Ice sheet flow with thermally activated sliding. Part 2: the stability of subtemperate regions.

ABSTRACT: The onset of sliding in ice sheets may not take the form of a sharp boundary between regions at the melting point, in which sliding is permitted, and regions below that temperature, in which there is no slip. Such a hard switch leads to the paradox of the bed naturally wanting to refreeze as soon as sliding has commenced. A potential alternative structure is a region of subtemperate sliding. Here temperatures are marginally below the melting point and sliding velocities slower than they would if the bed was fully temperate. Rather than being controlled by a standard sliding law, sliding velocities are then constrained by the need to maintain energy balance. This thermal structure arises in temperature-dependent sliding laws in the limit of strong sensitivity to temperature. Here, we analys

SUBMITTER: Mantelli E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6894546 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature