Ice shelf rift propagation and the mechanics of wave-induced fracture
Distant storms, tsunamis, and earthquakes generate waves on floating ice shelves. Previous studies, however, have disagreed about whether the resulting wave-induced stresses may cause ice shelf rift propagation. Most ice shelf rifts show long periods of dormancy suggesting that they have low backgro...
Main Author: | |
---|---|
Format: | Report |
Language: | unknown |
Published: |
EarthArXiv
2017
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/a9vjb https://eartharxiv.org/a9vjb/ |
id |
ftdatacite:10.17605/osf.io/a9vjb |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdatacite:10.17605/osf.io/a9vjb 2023-05-15T13:22:03+02:00 Ice shelf rift propagation and the mechanics of wave-induced fracture Lipovsky, Bradley 2017 https://dx.doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/a9vjb https://eartharxiv.org/a9vjb/ unknown EarthArXiv https://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2017JC013664 Academic Free License (AFL) 3.0 Physical Sciences and Mathematics Earth Sciences Glaciology Preprint Text article-journal ScholarlyArticle 2017 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/a9vjb 2021-11-05T12:55:41Z Distant storms, tsunamis, and earthquakes generate waves on floating ice shelves. Previous studies, however, have disagreed about whether the resulting wave-induced stresses may cause ice shelf rift propagation. Most ice shelf rifts show long periods of dormancy suggesting that they have low background stress concentrations and may therefore be susceptible to wave-induced stresses. Here, I quantify wave-induced stresses on the Ross Ice Shelf Nascent Rift and the Amery Ice Shelf Loose Tooth T2 Rift using passive seismology. I then relate these stresses to a fracture mechanical model of rift propagation that accounts for rift cohesive strength due to refrozen melange, ice inertia, and spatial heterogeneity in fracture toughness due to the presence of high toughness suture zones. I infer wave-induced stresses using the wave impedance tensor, a rank three tensor that relates seismically observable particle velocities to components of the stress tensor. I find that wave-induced stresses are an order of magnitude larger on the Ross Ice Shelf as compared to the Amery Ice Shelf. In the absence of additional rift strength, my model predicts that the Nascent Rift should have experienced extensive rift propagation. The observation that no such propagation occurred during this time therefore suggests that the Nascent Rift experiences cohesive strengthening from either refrozen melange or rift tip processes zone dynamics. This study illustrates one way in which passive seismology may illuminate glacier calving physics. Report Amery Ice Shelf Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Ross Ice Shelf DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) Ross Ice Shelf Amery ENVELOPE(-94.063,-94.063,56.565,56.565) Amery Ice Shelf ENVELOPE(71.000,71.000,-69.750,-69.750) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
op_collection_id |
ftdatacite |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Physical Sciences and Mathematics Earth Sciences Glaciology |
spellingShingle |
Physical Sciences and Mathematics Earth Sciences Glaciology Lipovsky, Bradley Ice shelf rift propagation and the mechanics of wave-induced fracture |
topic_facet |
Physical Sciences and Mathematics Earth Sciences Glaciology |
description |
Distant storms, tsunamis, and earthquakes generate waves on floating ice shelves. Previous studies, however, have disagreed about whether the resulting wave-induced stresses may cause ice shelf rift propagation. Most ice shelf rifts show long periods of dormancy suggesting that they have low background stress concentrations and may therefore be susceptible to wave-induced stresses. Here, I quantify wave-induced stresses on the Ross Ice Shelf Nascent Rift and the Amery Ice Shelf Loose Tooth T2 Rift using passive seismology. I then relate these stresses to a fracture mechanical model of rift propagation that accounts for rift cohesive strength due to refrozen melange, ice inertia, and spatial heterogeneity in fracture toughness due to the presence of high toughness suture zones. I infer wave-induced stresses using the wave impedance tensor, a rank three tensor that relates seismically observable particle velocities to components of the stress tensor. I find that wave-induced stresses are an order of magnitude larger on the Ross Ice Shelf as compared to the Amery Ice Shelf. In the absence of additional rift strength, my model predicts that the Nascent Rift should have experienced extensive rift propagation. The observation that no such propagation occurred during this time therefore suggests that the Nascent Rift experiences cohesive strengthening from either refrozen melange or rift tip processes zone dynamics. This study illustrates one way in which passive seismology may illuminate glacier calving physics. |
format |
Report |
author |
Lipovsky, Bradley |
author_facet |
Lipovsky, Bradley |
author_sort |
Lipovsky, Bradley |
title |
Ice shelf rift propagation and the mechanics of wave-induced fracture |
title_short |
Ice shelf rift propagation and the mechanics of wave-induced fracture |
title_full |
Ice shelf rift propagation and the mechanics of wave-induced fracture |
title_fullStr |
Ice shelf rift propagation and the mechanics of wave-induced fracture |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ice shelf rift propagation and the mechanics of wave-induced fracture |
title_sort |
ice shelf rift propagation and the mechanics of wave-induced fracture |
publisher |
EarthArXiv |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/a9vjb https://eartharxiv.org/a9vjb/ |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-94.063,-94.063,56.565,56.565) ENVELOPE(71.000,71.000,-69.750,-69.750) |
geographic |
Ross Ice Shelf Amery Amery Ice Shelf |
geographic_facet |
Ross Ice Shelf Amery Amery Ice Shelf |
genre |
Amery Ice Shelf Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Ross Ice Shelf |
genre_facet |
Amery Ice Shelf Ice Shelf Ice Shelves Ross Ice Shelf |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2017JC013664 |
op_rights |
Academic Free License (AFL) 3.0 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/a9vjb |
_version_ |
1766363053948928000 |