Laboratory Experiments on Ice Melting: A Need for Understanding Dynamics at the Ice-Water Interface

Abstract

The ice-ocean interface is a dynamic zone characterized by the transfer of heat, salinity, and energy. Complex thermodynamics and fluid dynamics drive fascinating physics as ice is formed and lost under variable conditions. Observations and data from polar regions have shed light on the contributions that oceanic currents, meltwater plumes, subglacial hydrology, and other features of the ice-ocean boundary region can make on melting and transport. However, the complicated interaction of mechanisms related to ice loss remain difficult to discern, necessitating laboratory experiments to explore fundamental features of melting dynamics via controlled testing with rigorous measurement techniques. Here, we put forward a review of literature on laboratory experiments that explore ice loss in response to free and forced convective flows, considering melting based on laminar or turbulent flow conditions, ice geometries representing a range of idealized scenarios to those modeling glaciers found in nature, and features such as salinity and stratification. We present successful measurement techniques and highlight findings useful to understanding polar ice dynamics, and we aim to identify future directions and needs for experimental research to complement ongoing field investigations and numerical simulations to ultimately improve predictions of ice loss in our current and evolving climate.