Calving on tidewater glaciers amplified by submarine frontal melting

TL;DR

This study demonstrates that submarine frontal melting significantly amplifies calving in tidewater glaciers, with basal melt-driven undercutting increasing calving rates up to tenfold, highlighting the importance of water temperature near the glacier bed.

Contribution

It introduces a stress-based model to quantify how frontal melting influences calving, independent of calving criteria, emphasizing the role of basal melt in glacier dynamics.

Findings

Undercutting from frontal melting can drive calving at up to ten times the melt rate.

Frontal melt effects are amplified by strong thermal gradients and basal melt concentration.

Water temperatures near the glacier bed critically influence calving and glacier flow.

Abstract

While it has been shown repeatedly that ocean conditions exhibit an important control on the behaviour of grounded tidewater glaciers, modelling studies have focused largely on the effects of basal and surface melting. Here, a finite-element model of stresses near the front of a tidewater glacier is used to investigate the effects of frontal melting on calving, independently of the calving criterion used. Applications of the stress model to idealized scenarios reveal that undercutting of the ice front due to frontal melting can drive calving at up to ten times the mean melt rate. Factors which cause increased frontal melt-driven calving include a strong thermal gradient in the ice, and a concentration of frontal melt at the base of the glacier. These properties are typical of both Arctic and Antarctic tidewater glaciers. The finding that frontal melt near the base is a strong driver of calving leads to the conclusion that water temperatures near the bed of the glacier are critically important to the glacier front, and thus the flow of the glacier. These conclusions are robust against changes in the basal boundary condition and the choice of calving criterion, as well as variations in the glacier size or level of crevassing.