Tidal bending and strand cracks at the Kamb Ice Stream grounding line, West Antarctica

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: CHRISTINA L. HULBE, MARIN KLINGER, MEGAN MASTERSON, GINNY CATANIA, KENNETH CRUIKSHANK, ANDREA BUGNI
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press 2016
• Subjects: grounding line; ice fracture propagation; ice shelves; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Kamb Ice Stream; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Shelves; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.74; https://doaj.org/article/4f78c2a7bc3340fd8337c4958796912f

An extensive set of shore-parallel fractures are observed at the grounding line of Kamb Ice Stream (KIS) in West Antarctica. Seismicity measured in the grounding zone is, as elsewhere around Antarctica, tidally forced and moreover strand cracks propagate nearly exclusively on the falling tide. Measured surface deflection and a model of fracture propagation are used to conclude that bending on the falling tide favors propagation while bending on the rising tide suppresses propagation. Without the perturbation due to tidal bending, strand cracks would be rare and appear farther downstream than observed. We speculate that the very large number of cracks observed at KIS is due to the stagnant-to-floating transition at that grounding line, which allows cyclic bending of the same ice and relatively large stretching rates.