Asymptotic Analysis of Subglacial Plumes in Stratified Environments
Accurate predictions of basal melt rates on ice shelves are necessary for precise projections of the future behaviour of ice sheets. The computational expense associated with completely resolving the cavity circulation using an ocean model makes this approach unfeasible for multi-century simulations...
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ftdatacite:10.48550/arxiv.2103.09003 2023-05-15T16:41:05+02:00 Asymptotic Analysis of Subglacial Plumes in Stratified Environments Bradley, Alexander T Williams, C. Rosie Jenkins, Adrian Arthern, Robert 2021 https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2103.09003 https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.09003 unknown arXiv https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2021.0846 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode cc-by-4.0 CC-BY Fluid Dynamics physics.flu-dyn Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics physics.ao-ph Geophysics physics.geo-ph FOS Physical sciences article-journal Article ScholarlyArticle Text 2021 ftdatacite https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2103.09003 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2021.0846 2022-04-01T15:51:48Z Accurate predictions of basal melt rates on ice shelves are necessary for precise projections of the future behaviour of ice sheets. The computational expense associated with completely resolving the cavity circulation using an ocean model makes this approach unfeasible for multi-century simulations, and parametrizations of melt rates are required. At present, some of the most advanced melt rate parametrizations are based on a one-dimensional approximation to the melt rate that emerges from the theory of subglacial plumes applied to ice shelves with constant basal slopes and uniform ambient ocean conditions; in this work, we present an asymptotic analysis of the corresponding equations in which non-constant basal slopes and typical ambient conditions are imposed. This analysis exploits the small aspect ratio of ice shelf bases, the relatively weak thermal driving and the relative slenderness of the region separating warm, salty water at depth and cold, fresh water at the surface in the ambient ocean. We construct an approximation to the melt rate that is based on this analysis, which shows good agreement with numerical solutions in a wide variety of cases, suggesting a path towards improved predictions of basal melt rates in ice-sheet models. : 32 pages, 7 figures Text Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
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DataCite Metadata Store (German National Library of Science and Technology) |
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language |
unknown |
topic |
Fluid Dynamics physics.flu-dyn Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics physics.ao-ph Geophysics physics.geo-ph FOS Physical sciences |
spellingShingle |
Fluid Dynamics physics.flu-dyn Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics physics.ao-ph Geophysics physics.geo-ph FOS Physical sciences Bradley, Alexander T Williams, C. Rosie Jenkins, Adrian Arthern, Robert Asymptotic Analysis of Subglacial Plumes in Stratified Environments |
topic_facet |
Fluid Dynamics physics.flu-dyn Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics physics.ao-ph Geophysics physics.geo-ph FOS Physical sciences |
description |
Accurate predictions of basal melt rates on ice shelves are necessary for precise projections of the future behaviour of ice sheets. The computational expense associated with completely resolving the cavity circulation using an ocean model makes this approach unfeasible for multi-century simulations, and parametrizations of melt rates are required. At present, some of the most advanced melt rate parametrizations are based on a one-dimensional approximation to the melt rate that emerges from the theory of subglacial plumes applied to ice shelves with constant basal slopes and uniform ambient ocean conditions; in this work, we present an asymptotic analysis of the corresponding equations in which non-constant basal slopes and typical ambient conditions are imposed. This analysis exploits the small aspect ratio of ice shelf bases, the relatively weak thermal driving and the relative slenderness of the region separating warm, salty water at depth and cold, fresh water at the surface in the ambient ocean. We construct an approximation to the melt rate that is based on this analysis, which shows good agreement with numerical solutions in a wide variety of cases, suggesting a path towards improved predictions of basal melt rates in ice-sheet models. : 32 pages, 7 figures |
format |
Text |
author |
Bradley, Alexander T Williams, C. Rosie Jenkins, Adrian Arthern, Robert |
author_facet |
Bradley, Alexander T Williams, C. Rosie Jenkins, Adrian Arthern, Robert |
author_sort |
Bradley, Alexander T |
title |
Asymptotic Analysis of Subglacial Plumes in Stratified Environments |
title_short |
Asymptotic Analysis of Subglacial Plumes in Stratified Environments |
title_full |
Asymptotic Analysis of Subglacial Plumes in Stratified Environments |
title_fullStr |
Asymptotic Analysis of Subglacial Plumes in Stratified Environments |
title_full_unstemmed |
Asymptotic Analysis of Subglacial Plumes in Stratified Environments |
title_sort |
asymptotic analysis of subglacial plumes in stratified environments |
publisher |
arXiv |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://dx.doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2103.09003 https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.09003 |
genre |
Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves |
genre_facet |
Ice Sheet Ice Shelf Ice Shelves |
op_relation |
https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2021.0846 |
op_rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode cc-by-4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.48550/arxiv.2103.09003 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspa.2021.0846 |
_version_ |
1766031522173812736 |