Abstract
Marine ice is increasingly recognized as an important component of ice shelves in Antarctica. Because it mainly accretes in “weak” locations, it plays a crucial role in ice shelf stability. Little is known however on the rheology of this particular material (low salinity, no bubbles, specific fabrics). We present marine ice deformation experiments in unconfined uniaxial compression at −10 °C, −6 °C, and −3 °C. Generally, marine ice samples confirm the value of n = 3 for Glen's power law. It also appears to behave systematically “harder” than artificial or meteoric isotropic ice samples used in the past, in the studied stress condition. Bulk salinity does not seem to have a significant impact on the viscosity. All deformation curves compare well with a generalized empirical temperature/viscosity relationship. They represent the first experimental validation of the lower boundary of this rheological relationship recommended for use in modeling ice dynamics.
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