Melt-under-cutting and buoyancy-driven calving from tidewater glaciers: new insights from discrete element and continuum model simulations

The simple calving laws currently used in ice-sheet models do not adequately reflect the complexity and diversity of calving processes. To be effective, calving laws must be grounded in a sound understanding of how calving actually works. Here, we develop a new strategy for formulating calving laws,...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Glaciology
Main Authors: DOUGLAS I. BENN, JAN ÅSTRÖM, THOMAS ZWINGER, JOE TODD, FAEZEH M. NICK, SUSAN COOK, NICHOLAS R. J. HULTON, ADRIAN LUCKMAN
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.41
https://doaj.org/article/cd468a28e99448f4ba7ef4317f79a127
id ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:cd468a28e99448f4ba7ef4317f79a127
record_format openpolar
spelling ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:cd468a28e99448f4ba7ef4317f79a127 2023-05-15T16:40:59+02:00 Melt-under-cutting and buoyancy-driven calving from tidewater glaciers: new insights from discrete element and continuum model simulations DOUGLAS I. BENN JAN ÅSTRÖM THOMAS ZWINGER JOE TODD FAEZEH M. NICK SUSAN COOK NICHOLAS R. J. HULTON ADRIAN LUCKMAN 2017-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.41 https://doaj.org/article/cd468a28e99448f4ba7ef4317f79a127 EN eng Cambridge University Press https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143017000417/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2017.41 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/cd468a28e99448f4ba7ef4317f79a127 Journal of Glaciology, Vol 63, Pp 691-702 (2017) calving glacier modelling iceberg calving Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.41 2023-03-12T01:30:59Z The simple calving laws currently used in ice-sheet models do not adequately reflect the complexity and diversity of calving processes. To be effective, calving laws must be grounded in a sound understanding of how calving actually works. Here, we develop a new strategy for formulating calving laws, using (a) the Helsinki Discrete Element Model (HiDEM) to explicitly model fracture and calving processes, and (b) the continuum model Elmer/Ice to identify critical stress states associated with HiDEM calving events. A range of observed calving processes emerges spontaneously from HiDEM in response to variations in ice-front buoyancy and the size of subaqueous undercuts. Calving driven by buoyancy and melt under-cutting is under-predicted by existing calving laws, but we show that the location and magnitude of HiDEM calving events can be predicted in Elmer/Ice from characteristic stress patterns. Our results open the way to developing calving laws that properly reflect the diversity of calving processes, and provide a framework for a unified theory of the calving process continuum. Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice Sheet Journal of Glaciology Tidewater Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Journal of Glaciology 63 240 691 702
institution Open Polar
collection Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles
op_collection_id ftdoajarticles
language English
topic calving
glacier modelling
iceberg calving
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Meteorology. Climatology
QC851-999
spellingShingle calving
glacier modelling
iceberg calving
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Meteorology. Climatology
QC851-999
DOUGLAS I. BENN
JAN ÅSTRÖM
THOMAS ZWINGER
JOE TODD
FAEZEH M. NICK
SUSAN COOK
NICHOLAS R. J. HULTON
ADRIAN LUCKMAN
Melt-under-cutting and buoyancy-driven calving from tidewater glaciers: new insights from discrete element and continuum model simulations
topic_facet calving
glacier modelling
iceberg calving
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
Meteorology. Climatology
QC851-999
description The simple calving laws currently used in ice-sheet models do not adequately reflect the complexity and diversity of calving processes. To be effective, calving laws must be grounded in a sound understanding of how calving actually works. Here, we develop a new strategy for formulating calving laws, using (a) the Helsinki Discrete Element Model (HiDEM) to explicitly model fracture and calving processes, and (b) the continuum model Elmer/Ice to identify critical stress states associated with HiDEM calving events. A range of observed calving processes emerges spontaneously from HiDEM in response to variations in ice-front buoyancy and the size of subaqueous undercuts. Calving driven by buoyancy and melt under-cutting is under-predicted by existing calving laws, but we show that the location and magnitude of HiDEM calving events can be predicted in Elmer/Ice from characteristic stress patterns. Our results open the way to developing calving laws that properly reflect the diversity of calving processes, and provide a framework for a unified theory of the calving process continuum.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author DOUGLAS I. BENN
JAN ÅSTRÖM
THOMAS ZWINGER
JOE TODD
FAEZEH M. NICK
SUSAN COOK
NICHOLAS R. J. HULTON
ADRIAN LUCKMAN
author_facet DOUGLAS I. BENN
JAN ÅSTRÖM
THOMAS ZWINGER
JOE TODD
FAEZEH M. NICK
SUSAN COOK
NICHOLAS R. J. HULTON
ADRIAN LUCKMAN
author_sort DOUGLAS I. BENN
title Melt-under-cutting and buoyancy-driven calving from tidewater glaciers: new insights from discrete element and continuum model simulations
title_short Melt-under-cutting and buoyancy-driven calving from tidewater glaciers: new insights from discrete element and continuum model simulations
title_full Melt-under-cutting and buoyancy-driven calving from tidewater glaciers: new insights from discrete element and continuum model simulations
title_fullStr Melt-under-cutting and buoyancy-driven calving from tidewater glaciers: new insights from discrete element and continuum model simulations
title_full_unstemmed Melt-under-cutting and buoyancy-driven calving from tidewater glaciers: new insights from discrete element and continuum model simulations
title_sort melt-under-cutting and buoyancy-driven calving from tidewater glaciers: new insights from discrete element and continuum model simulations
publisher Cambridge University Press
publishDate 2017
url https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.41
https://doaj.org/article/cd468a28e99448f4ba7ef4317f79a127
genre Ice Sheet
Journal of Glaciology
Tidewater
genre_facet Ice Sheet
Journal of Glaciology
Tidewater
op_source Journal of Glaciology, Vol 63, Pp 691-702 (2017)
op_relation https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143017000417/type/journal_article
https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430
https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652
doi:10.1017/jog.2017.41
0022-1430
1727-5652
https://doaj.org/article/cd468a28e99448f4ba7ef4317f79a127
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.41
container_title Journal of Glaciology
container_volume 63
container_issue 240
container_start_page 691
op_container_end_page 702
_version_ 1766031424213745664