A Simple Law for Ice-Shelf Calving
Richard B. Alley,1*
Huw J. Horgan,1
Ian Joughin,2
Kurt M. Cuffey,3
Todd K. Dupont,4
Byron R. Parizek,5
Sridhar Anandakrishnan,1
Jeremy Bassis6
A major problem for ice-sheet models is that no physically based
law for the calving process has been established. Comparison
across a diverse set of ice shelves demonstrates that iceberg
calving increases with the along-flow spreading rate of a shelf.
This relation suggests that frictional buttressing loss, which
increases spreading, also leads to shelf retreat, a process
known to accelerate ice-sheet flow and contribute to sea-level
rise.
2 Applied Physics Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98105, USA.
3 Department of Geography, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
4 Department of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
5 Mathematics and Geoscience, Penn State Dubois, Dubois, PA 15801, USA.
6 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rba6{at}psu.edu
