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Interaction of Ice Shelves with the Ocean

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Glaciers and Ice Sheets in the Climate System

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Abstract

Ice shelves are the floating extensions of ice sheets into the ocean. Melting under ice shelves contributes to their mass balance and affects their geometry, with implications for ice-shelf evolution and integrity. This chapter examines the relevant ice-ocean interactions, focussing on mathematical descriptions of the plume dynamics that control the basal melt rate, and of the large-scale ocean circulation in the sub ice-shelf cavities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    At sufficiently low concentrations, the phase change occurs close to 0 °C and ‘melting’ is the appropriate term. We use this term from now on to describe melting and dissolution, as their distinction is not critical to the discussion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

    Adrian Jenkins

Authors
  1. Adrian Jenkins
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Correspondence to Adrian Jenkins .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. MACSI, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland

    Andrew Fowler

  2. Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Felix Ng

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Jenkins, A. (2021). Interaction of Ice Shelves with the Ocean. In: Fowler, A., Ng, F. (eds) Glaciers and Ice Sheets in the Climate System. Springer Textbooks in Earth Sciences, Geography and Environment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42584-5_5

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