West Antarctic Ice Streams
Solar heat is the acknowledged driving force for climatic change. However, ice sheets are also capable of causing climatic change. This property of ice sheets derives from the facts that ice and rock are crystalline whereas the oceans and atmosphere are fluids and that ice sheets are massive enough...
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DigitalCommons@UMaine
1977
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ftmaineuniv:oai:digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu:ers_facpub-1169 2024-09-15T17:44:21+00:00 West Antarctic Ice Streams Hughes, Terence J. 1977-01-01T08:00:00Z application/pdf https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub/170 https://doi.org/10.1029/RG015i001p00001 https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/context/ers_facpub/article/1169/viewcontent/hughes_15_1_46.pdf unknown DigitalCommons@UMaine https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub/170 doi:10.1029/RG015i001p00001 https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/context/ers_facpub/article/1169/viewcontent/hughes_15_1_46.pdf This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). Earth Science Faculty Scholarship Earth Sciences text 1977 ftmaineuniv https://doi.org/10.1029/RG015i001p00001 2024-07-24T05:38:40Z Solar heat is the acknowledged driving force for climatic change. However, ice sheets are also capable of causing climatic change. This property of ice sheets derives from the facts that ice and rock are crystalline whereas the oceans and atmosphere are fluids and that ice sheets are massive enough to depress the earth's crust well below sea level. These features allow time constants for glacial flow and isostatic compensation to be much larger than those for ocean and atmospheric circulation and therefore somewhat independent of the solar variations that control this circulation. This review examines the nature of dynamic processes in ice streams that give ice sheets their degree of independent behavior and emphasizes the consequences of viscoplastic instability inherent in anisotropic polycrystalline solids such as glacial ice. Viscoplastic instability and subglacial topography are responsible for the formation of ice streams near ice sheet margins grounded below sea level. As a result the West Antarctic marine ice sheet is inherently unstable and can be rapidly carved away by calving bays which migrate up surging ice streams. Analyses of tidal flexure along floating ice stream margins, stress and velocity fields in ice streams, and ice stream boundary conditions are presented and used to interpret ERTS 1 photomosaics for West Antarctica in terms of characteristic ice sheet crevasse patterns that can be used to monitor ice stream surges and to study calving bay dynamics. Text Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet West Antarctica The University of Maine: DigitalCommons@UMaine Reviews of Geophysics 15 1 1 46 |
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Open Polar |
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The University of Maine: DigitalCommons@UMaine |
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ftmaineuniv |
language |
unknown |
topic |
Earth Sciences |
spellingShingle |
Earth Sciences Hughes, Terence J. West Antarctic Ice Streams |
topic_facet |
Earth Sciences |
description |
Solar heat is the acknowledged driving force for climatic change. However, ice sheets are also capable of causing climatic change. This property of ice sheets derives from the facts that ice and rock are crystalline whereas the oceans and atmosphere are fluids and that ice sheets are massive enough to depress the earth's crust well below sea level. These features allow time constants for glacial flow and isostatic compensation to be much larger than those for ocean and atmospheric circulation and therefore somewhat independent of the solar variations that control this circulation. This review examines the nature of dynamic processes in ice streams that give ice sheets their degree of independent behavior and emphasizes the consequences of viscoplastic instability inherent in anisotropic polycrystalline solids such as glacial ice. Viscoplastic instability and subglacial topography are responsible for the formation of ice streams near ice sheet margins grounded below sea level. As a result the West Antarctic marine ice sheet is inherently unstable and can be rapidly carved away by calving bays which migrate up surging ice streams. Analyses of tidal flexure along floating ice stream margins, stress and velocity fields in ice streams, and ice stream boundary conditions are presented and used to interpret ERTS 1 photomosaics for West Antarctica in terms of characteristic ice sheet crevasse patterns that can be used to monitor ice stream surges and to study calving bay dynamics. |
format |
Text |
author |
Hughes, Terence J. |
author_facet |
Hughes, Terence J. |
author_sort |
Hughes, Terence J. |
title |
West Antarctic Ice Streams |
title_short |
West Antarctic Ice Streams |
title_full |
West Antarctic Ice Streams |
title_fullStr |
West Antarctic Ice Streams |
title_full_unstemmed |
West Antarctic Ice Streams |
title_sort |
west antarctic ice streams |
publisher |
DigitalCommons@UMaine |
publishDate |
1977 |
url |
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub/170 https://doi.org/10.1029/RG015i001p00001 https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/context/ers_facpub/article/1169/viewcontent/hughes_15_1_46.pdf |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet West Antarctica |
op_source |
Earth Science Faculty Scholarship |
op_relation |
https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/ers_facpub/170 doi:10.1029/RG015i001p00001 https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/context/ers_facpub/article/1169/viewcontent/hughes_15_1_46.pdf |
op_rights |
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. In addition, no permission is required from the rights-holder(s) for educational uses. For other uses, you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1029/RG015i001p00001 |
container_title |
Reviews of Geophysics |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
1 |
op_container_end_page |
46 |
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1810491837336518656 |