Representation of sharp rifts and faults mechanics in modeling ice shelf flow dynamics: Application to Brunt/Stancomb-Wills Ice Shelf, Antarctica

Creators: Larour, E.; Khazendar, A.; Borstad, C. P.; Seroussi, H.; Morlighem, M.; Rignot, E.

Abstract

Ice shelves play a major role in buttressing ice sheet flow into the ocean, hence the importance of accurate numerical modeling of their stress regime. Commonly used ice flow models assume a continuous medium and are therefore complicated by the presence of rupture features (crevasses, rifts, and faults) that significantly affect the overall flow patterns. Here we apply contact mechanics and penalty methods to develop a new ice shelf flow model that captures the impact of rifts and faults on the rheology and stress distribution of ice shelves. The model achieves a best fit solution to satellite observations of ice shelf velocities to infer the following: (1) a spatial distribution of contact and friction points along detected faults and rifts, (2) a more realistic spatial pattern of ice shelf rheology, and (3) a better representation of the stress balance in the immediate vicinity of faults and rifts. Thus, applying the model to the Brunt/Stancomb-Wills Ice Shelf, Antarctica, we quantify the state of friction inside faults and the opening rates of rifts and obtain an ice shelf rheology that remains relatively constant everywhere else on the ice shelf. We further demonstrate that better stress representation has widespread application in examining aspects affecting ice shelf structure and dynamics including the extent of ice mélange in rifts and the change in fracture configurations. All are major applications for better insight into the important question of ice shelf stability.

Additional Information

© 2014 American Geophysical Union. Received 27 March 2014; accepted 16 August 2014; accepted article online 21 August 2014; published online 22 September 2014. This work was supported by grants from NASA's Cryosphere Sciences Program (E.L., A.K., M.M., and E.R.) as well as funding from the Modeling, Analysis and Prediction Program (MAP, E.L., and H.S.) and funding from the President's and Director's Fund Program (E.L.). C.B. was supported by an appointment to the NASA Postdoctoral Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, administered by Oak Ridge Associated Universities through a contract with NASA followed by an appointment to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory / California Institute of Technology Postdoctoral Program. This work was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and at the University of California, Irvine, Department of Earth System Science. The RADARSAT-1, ERS 1/2 data sets used in this study, along with the GLAS/ICESat altimeter DEM of Antarctica can be found at the NASA Distributed Active Archive Center at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, Boulder, Colorado, USA. We want to also thank Michiel van den Broeke for the surface mass balance model of Antarctica used in this study.

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