A Pressure-sintering Model for the Densification of Polar Firn and Glacier Ice

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Author: Wilkinson, D.S.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1988
• Subjects: Ice Sheet; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000009047; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000009047

Abstract A comprehensive multi-mechanism theory of pressure sintering has been applied to the densification of two polar ice sheets. The comparison, which is made using pressure-sintering mechanism maps, indicates that power-law creep is the controlling mechanism between 50% and 98% theoretical density. Lattice diffusion becomes dominant at low porosities. The densification rates predicted by the theory are in good agreement with the data, and suggest that a reasonable estimation of the densification behaviour of a polar ice sheet can be made using the theory, based on information obtained from a relatively shallow core.