Abstract

Very little of the Antarctic ice sheet experiences surface melting; much of its ablation takes place under the floating extensions of the sheet (ice shelves), which are exposed to ocean warming. Ice-shelf thinning due to submarine melting has the potential to cause significant ice loss from portions of the ice sheet, and hence sea-level rise. Oceanographic and remote-sensing observations of this region in recent years have shown a pattern of high ice-shelf melt rates coincident with widespread thinning of grounded ice and therefore sea-level rise. However, the processes by which ocean warming leads to ice-sheet loss via ice shelf instability are poorly understood. Recent events on the Brunt and Larsen Ice Shelf shows both the importance and relevance of this understanding.

This talk will show highlights of work carried out over the last 5 years at the British Antarctic Survey into the field of ice-ocean interactions focussing on three main areas, namely ice-ocean interactions in ice shelf basal crevasses, the conditional instability of frazil ice growth in seawater and fully synchronous coupling of an ice stream, ice shelf and ocean model.