Glacier Calving: A Numerical Model of Forces in the Calving-Speed/Water-Depth Relation

Empirical data suggest that the race of calving of grounded glaciers terminating in water is directly proportional to the water depth. Important controls on calving may be the extent to which a calving face tends to become oversteepened by differential flow within the ice and the extent to which bending moments promote extrusion and bottom crevassing at the base of a calving face. Numerical modelling suggests that the tendency to become oversteepened increases roughly linearly with water depth. In addition, extending longitudinal deviatoric stresses at the base of a calving face increase with water depth. These processes provide a possible physical explanation for the observed calving-rate/water-depth relation.

Decadal Variability in the Northeast Pacific in a Physical-Ecosystem Model: Role of Mixed Layer Depth and Trophic Interactions

A basin-wide interdecadal change in both the physical state and the ecology of the North Pacific occurred near the end of 1976. Here we use a physical-ecosystem model to examine whether changes in the physical environment associated with the 1976-1977 transition influenced the lower trophic levels of the food web and if so by what means. The physical component is an ocean general circulation model, while the biological component contains 10 compartments: two phytoplankton, two zooplankton, two detritus pools, nitrate, ammonium, silicate, and carbon dioxide. The model is forced with observed atmospheric fields during 1960-1999. During spring, there is a similar to 40% reduction in plankton biomass in all four plankton groups during 1977-1988 relative to 1970-1976 in the central Gulf of Alaska (GOA). The epoch difference in plankton appears to be controlled by the mixed layer depth. Enhanced Ekman pumping after 1976 caused the halocline to shoal, and thus the mixed layer depth, which extends to the top of the halocline in late winter, did not penetrate as deep in the central GOA. As a result, more phytoplankton remained in the euphotic zone, and phytoplankton biomass began to increase earlier in the year after the 1976 transition. Zooplankton biomass also increased, but then grazing pressure led to a strong decrease in phytoplankton by April followed by a drop in zooplankton by May: Essentially, the mean seasonal cycle of plankton biomass was shifted earlier in the year. As the seasonal cycle progressed, the difference in plankton concentrations between epochs reversed sign again, leading to slightly greater zooplankton biomass during summer in the later epoch.

Crevassing and Calving of Glacial Ice

Calving of ice is a relatively new area of research in the still young field of glaciology. In the short time that calving has been studied, it has been mainly treated as an afterthought, with the predominant mode of thinking being that it will happen so to concern oneself with why is not important. Many studies dealt with observations of calving front positions over time vs. ice velocity in an attempt to quantify the calving rate as the difference between the two, while others have attempted to deduce some empirical relationship between calving rate and variables such as water depth or temperature. This study instead addresses the question of why, where, and when ice will first become crevassed, which is an obviously necessary condition for a later calving event to occur. Previous work examining the causes of calving used ideas put forth from a variety of fields, including civil engineering, materials science, and results from basic physics and mechanics. These theories are re-examined here and presented as part of a larger whole. Important results from the field of fracture mechanics are utilized frequently, and these results can be used as a predictor of ice behavior and intrinsic properties of ice, as well as properties like back stresses induced by local pinning points and resistive shears along glacial ice boundaries. A theory of fracture for a material experiencing creep is also presented with applications to ice shelves and crevasse penetration. Finally, a speculative theory regarding large scale iceberg formation is presented. It is meant mainly as an impetus to further discussion on the topic, with the hope that a model relating crevasse geometries to flow parameters can result in crevasse spacings that could produce the tabular icebergs which are so newsworthy. The primary focus of this thesis is to move away from the "after the fact" studies that are so common in calving research, and instead devote energy to determining what creates the conditions that drive the calving of ice in the first place.