Department of Geology Seminar Series: The timing and mechanics of tabular calving and the response of the Brunt Ice Shelf, Antarctica.

The Brunt Ice Shelf in East Antarctica has calved three large icebergs in the last four years (A-74, A-81 and A-83) and almost doubled in speed since calving. We have recorded these events in unprecedented detail, monitoring evolution of cracks and strain rates before and after calving with an extensive and long-running GPS network and satellite data. Ice cores provide additional information on local ice properties.

Here we discuss the recent behaviour of the ice shelf and present a new phase-field ice fracture model capable of predicting damage evolution over viscous timescales. We show how external influences on the ice shelf including tides and wind are critical to understanding the calving mechanism.