A Speed Limit on Ice Shelf Collapse Through Hydrofracture

Robel, Alexander A.; Banwell, Alison F.

doi:10.1029/2019GL084397

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A Speed Limit on Ice Shelf Collapse Through Hydrofracture

2019
By Robel, Alexander A. ; Banwell, Alison F.
Source: Geophysical Research Letters, 46, 12092-12100.

[PDF-1.77 MB]

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Details:

Journal Title:

Geophysical Research Letters
Personal Author:

Robel, Alexander A. ; Banwell, Alison F.

Robel, Alexander A. ; Banwell, Alison F. Less -
NOAA Program & Office:

CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
Description:

Increasing surface melt has been implicated in the collapse of several Antarctic ice shelves over the last few decades, including the collapse of Larsen B Ice Shelf over a period of just a few weeks in 2002. The speed at which an ice shelf disintegrates strongly determines the subsequent loss of grounded ice and sea level rise, but the controls on collapse speed are not well understood. Here we show, using a novel cellular automaton model, that there is an intrinsic speed limit on ice shelf collapse through cascades of interacting melt pond hydrofracture events. Though collapse speed increases with the area of hydrofracture influence, the typical flexural length scales of Antarctic ice shelves ensure that hydrofracture interactions remain localized. We argue that the speed at which Larsen B Ice Shelf collapsed was caused by a season of anomalously high surface meltwater production.
Keywords:

[+]

Ice shelves
Source:

Geophysical Research Letters, 46, 12092-12100.
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084397
Document Type:

Journal Article
Place as Subject:

Antarctica
Rights Information:

Other
Compliance:

Submitted
Main Document Checksum:

[+]

urn:sha256:098ffb7c6204bcd0e7dc85b7a7b3c1421b362b3d078e8a786b00bf2478df1567
Download URL:

https://repository.library.noaa.gov/view/noaa/25100/noaa_25100_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Code for simulations (via GitHub)

htm

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