Heat‐transfer analysis of the basal melting of antarctic ice shelves

• Published in: AIChE Journal
• Main Authors: Minale, Mario, Astarita, Gianni
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1993
• Subjects: Antarctic; Drygalski; Drygalski Ice Tongue; The Antarctic; Antarc*; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelves
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/aic.690391212; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1002%2Faic.690391212; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/aic.690391212

Abstract Basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves is an important element in the overall balance of Antarctic ice. A heat‐transfer model for the basal melting of the Drygalski Ice Tongue is presented. The model does not contain any adjustable parameter. The calculated basal melting rate agrees very well with the value estimated from an overall ice balance on the ice Tongue. It is concluded that relatively simple concepts of transport phenomena may be used to model some important features of the dynamics of the Antarctic ice sheet.