STABILITY OF ICE-AGE CAPS

• Main Author: WEERTMAN,JOHANNES
• Other Authors: COLD REGIONS RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING LAB HANOVER N H
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1962
• Subjects: *GLACIERS; ABLATION; MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS; MECHANICAL PROPERTIES; POLAR REGIONS; STABILITY; ICE CAPS; Arctic; Ewing; Ice cap; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/AD0284937; http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=AD0284937

The stability of large ice caps is investigated using the present-day theory of the flow of ice in glaciers and ice sheets. The type of instability is that mentioned by Bodvarsson. It is concluded that a small arctic ice cap can become unstable and expand into a large ice-age ice sheet as a result of moderate changes in the regime of the ice cap. A large continental ice cap also can become unstable and shrink to nothing if the snow accumulation is reduced or the ablation rate increased. The results fit well into the Ewing-Donn theory of ice ages. There is the possibility that the inherent instability of ice-age ice caps is in itself sufficient to explain both the formation and disappearance of these ice caps. (Author)