How ice shelf morphology controls basal melting

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research. B. Solid Earth Vol. 114; no. C12
• Main Authors: Little, Christopher M., Gnanadesikan, Anand, Oppenheimer, Michael
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.12.2009; American Geophysical Union
• Subjects: Antarctic; basal melting; Circulation; Climate change; Computer simulation; Cryosphere; Earth; Earth sciences; Earth, ocean, space; Exact sciences and technology; Geophysics; Heat flux; Ice; ice shelf; Ice shelves; Marine; Mathematical models; Melting; Morphology; Ocean temperature; Oceanography; Physical oceanography; Entrainment (atmosphere, ocean); morphology; geologic sections; mixing; Heat loss; melting; ice; climate; slopes; subsurface; buoyancy; Ocean model; Mixed layer; coupling; dynamics; ice shelves; heat sources; circulation; Ice shelf; temperature; Forcing; heat flux; melts; flow
• ISSN: 0148-0227; 2169-9275; 2156-2202; 2169-9291
• DOI: 10.1029/2008JC005197

The response of ice shelf basal melting to climate is a function of ocean temperature, circulation, and mixing in the open ocean and the coupling of this external forcing to the sub–ice shelf circulation. Because slope strongly influences the properties of buoyancy‐driven flow near the ice shelf base, ice shelf morphology plays a critical role in linking external, subsurface heat sources to the ice. In this paper, the slope‐driven dynamic control of local and area‐integrated melting rates is examined under a wide range of ocean temperatures and ice shelf shapes, with an emphasis on smaller, steeper ice shelves. A 3‐D numerical ocean model is used to simulate the circulation underneath five idealized ice shelves, forced with subsurface ocean temperatures ranging from −2.0°C to 1.5°C. In the sub–ice shelf mixed layer, three spatially distinct dynamic regimes are present. Entrainment of heat occurs predominately under deeper sections of the ice shelf; local and area‐integrated melting rates are most sensitive to changes in slope in this “initiation” region. Some entrained heat is advected upslope and used to melt ice in the “maintenance” region; however, flow convergence in the “outflow” region limits heat loss in flatter portions of the ice shelf. Heat flux to the ice exhibits (1) a spatially nonuniform, superlinear dependence on slope and (2) a shape‐ and temperature‐dependent, internally controlled efficiency. Because the efficiency of heat flux through the mixed layer decreases with increasing ocean temperature, numerical simulations diverge from a simple quadratic scaling law.