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SUMMARY:How fast do ice shelves melt? - Nicholls\, Keith W \, British Anta
 rctic Survey
DTSTART:20091130T110000Z
DTEND:20091130T120000Z
UID:TALK21641@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Zhaomin Wang
DESCRIPTION:If we are to predict the future contribution of the West Antar
 ctic Ice Sheet to sea level rise\, we must be able to use numerical models
  to predict how fast the ocean melts ice shelves.  This is because the pre
 sence of ice shelves hinders the flow of ice from the ice sheet: any chang
 e in their geometry can affect the rate of discharge of previously grounde
 d ice into the ocean.  Ice shelves also play a role in the formation of de
 ep and bottom waters that are central ingredients of the global overturnin
 g circulation. In this talk I discuss our present understanding of the con
 trols on ice shelf basal melt rates\; I will use datasets from beneath ice
  shelves to show under which conditions our formulations appear to do a go
 od job\, and where they seem to break down.  I will then discuss the impli
 cations for our ability to predict the melt rates for extremely rapidly me
 lting ice shelves\, such as those in the Amundsen Sea Embayment.
LOCATION:British Antarctic Survey\, Room 307
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