Calving giant icebergs: old principles, new applications

Earth-orbiting satellites can now monitor calving of large icebergs from ice shelves bordering the marine West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and recent calving events have stimulated interest in calving mechanisms. To advance this interest pioneering work in brittle and ductile fracture mechanics is reviewed...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Antarctic Science
Main Authors: Kenneally, J.P., Hughes, T.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2006
Subjects:
Geology
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Oceanography
Antarc*
Antarctic
Antarctic Science
Ice Sheet
Ice Shelves
Iceberg*
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0954102006000459
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0954102006000459
Description
Summary:Earth-orbiting satellites can now monitor calving of large icebergs from ice shelves bordering the marine West Antarctic Ice Sheet, and recent calving events have stimulated interest in calving mechanisms. To advance this interest pioneering work in brittle and ductile fracture mechanics is reviewed, leading to a new application to calving of giant icebergs from Antarctic ice shelves. The aim is to view iceberg calving as more than terminal events for Antarctic ice when glaciologists lose interest. Instead calving launches Antarctic ice into the larger dynamic system of Earth's climate machine. This encourages a holistic approach to glaciology.

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