Coupled 3-D full-Stokes modelling of tidewater glaciers

Icetools: A full Stokes finite element model for glaciers

Detailed studies of glacier flow and deformation of ice require high-resolution numerical modeling. The model presented in this paper, icetools, solves the Stokes equation including all components of the stress tensor, termed full Stokes, with the finite element method to enable such detailed studies. Icetools is capable of running in parallel on computational clusters providing the computing p...

Calving rates at tidewater glaciers vary strongly with ocean temperature

Rates of ice mass loss at the calving margins of tidewater glaciers (frontal ablation rates) are a key uncertainty in sea level rise projections. Measurements are difficult because mass lost is replaced by ice flow at variable rates, and frontal ablation incorporates sub-aerial calving, and submarine melt and calving. Here we derive frontal ablation rates for three dynamically contrasting glaci...

Subglacial discharge at tidewater glaciers revealed by seismic tremor

Subglacial discharge influences glacier basal motion and erodes and redeposits sediment. At tidewater glacier termini, discharge drives submarine terminus melting, affects fjord circulation, and is a central component of proglacial marine ecosystems. However, our present inability to track subglacial discharge and its variability significantly hinders our understanding of these processes. Here ...

Modelling Dynamics of Valley Glaciers

Ice-front variation and tidewater behavior on Helheim and Kangerdlugssuaq Glaciers, Greenland

[1] We used satellite images to examine the calving behavior of Helheim and Kangerdlugssuaq Glaciers, Greenland, from 2001 to 2006, a period in which they retreated and sped up. These data show that many large iceberg-calving episodes coincided with teleseismically detected glacial earthquakes, suggesting that calving-related processes are the source of the seismicity. For each of several event...