Abstract
ABSTRACTWe present simulation results from a version of the Regional Ocean Modeling System modified for ice shelf/ocean interaction, including the parameterisation of basal melting by molecular diffusion alone. Simulations investigate the differences in melting for an idealised ice shelf experiencing a range of cold to hot ocean cavity conditions. Both the pattern of melt and the location of maximum melt shift due to changes in the buoyancy-driven circulation, in a different way to previous studies. Tidal forcing increases both the circulation strength and melting, with the strongest impact on the cold cavity case. Our results highlight the importance of including a complete melt parameterisation and tidal forcing. In response to the 2.4°C ocean warming initially applied to a cold cavity ice shelf, we find that melting will increase by about an order of magnitude (24 × with tides and 41 × without tides).
Highlights
Accurate estimates of the mass balance of Antarctic ice grounded above flotation are important for constraining projections of global sea level rise
This study shows a general distribution of melting for different cavity environments; maximum melting in a cold ice shelf cavity is likely to be distributed near to the outflow region, while in a hot cavity will be distributed nearer to the inflow
Our results suggest that an increase in ocean temperature by 2.4°C will increase melting by ∼24× (∼41× excluding tides); as an example, the total area-averaged melt rate for all ice shelves is 0.94 m a−1 (Depoorter and others, 2013), which under 2.4°C of warming would increase to 22 m a−1
Summary
Accurate estimates of the mass balance of Antarctic ice grounded above flotation are important for constraining projections of global sea level rise. The largest loss of ice is due to ice flowing across the grounding line into the floating ice shelves These ice shelves provide an important buttressing back stress (Dupont and Alley, 2005) on the fast-flowing ice streams and glaciers, and their removal can lead to rapid ice stream acceleration (Scambos and others, 2004) and sea level rise. Ice shelf/ocean models allow small- and regional-scale interaction to be studied, leading to improved understanding of the physics involved, better wide-scale surveys of basal melt and improved estimates of Antarctic ice sheet mass budget for projecting sea level rise
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