The Flow Dynamics and Buttressing of Ice Shelves ...

• Main Author: Wearing, Martin
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository 2017
• Subjects: Ice shelves; ice sheet; antarctica; glaciology; fluid dynamics; ice shelf; Antarc*; Antarctic; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf; Ice Shelves
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.23327; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/276046

In this thesis, I explore the flow dynamics associated with ice shelves confined within channels and the buttressing they provide to grounded ice. Ice shelves are the floating extensions of ice sheets and act as the interface between the ice sheet and the ocean. They form when ice flows out from the interior of the ice sheet towards the coast and begins to float as the ice thins. Ice shelves are often found within a channel or pinned in place by stationary bedrock outcrops. The interest in their dynamics is motivated by the buttressing effect they provide to the grounded ice, which strongly controls the rate of ice discharge and thereby the contribution to sea-level rise. I use a combination of mathematical modeling, fluid-mechanical laboratory experiments and geophysical data analysis to develop an improved understanding of ice-shelf flow dynamics. Initially, geophysical data in the form of Antarctic ice-surface velocity data is analysed, producing maps of strain rate, shear rate and strain orientation for ...