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Abstract The Antarctic Ice Sheet loses mass via its ice shelves predominantly through two processes: basal melting and iceberg calving. Iceberg calving is episodic and infrequent, and not well parameterized in ice-sheet models. Here, we investigate the impact of hydrostatic forces on calving. We develop two-dimensional elastic and viscous numerical frameworks to model the ‘footloose’ calving mechanism. This mechanism is triggered by submerged ice protrusions at the ice front, which induce unbalanced buoyancy forces that can lead to fracturing. We compare the results to identify the different roles that viscous and elastic deformations play in setting the rate and magnitude of calving events. Our results show that, although the bending stresses in both frameworks share some characteristics, their differences have important implications for modeling the calving process. In particular, the elastic model predicts that maximum stresses arise farther from the ice front than in the viscous model, leading to larger calving events. We also find that the elastic model would likely lead to more frequent events than the viscous one. Our work provides a theoretical framework for the development of a better understanding of the physical processes that govern glacier and ice-shelf calving cycles. 

Tabular calving events occur from Antarctica's large ice shelves only every few decades, and are preceded by rift propagation. We used high‐resolution imagery and ICESat‐2 data to determine the propagation rates for the three active rifts on Amery Ice Shelf (AIS; T1, T2, and E3) and observe the calving of D‐28 on September 25, 2019 along T1. AIS front advance accelerated downstream of T1 in the years before calving, possibly increasing stress at the rift tip. T1 experienced significant acceleration for 12 days before calving, coinciding with a jump in propagation of E3. ICESat‐2's high resolution and repeat acquisitions every 91 days allowed for analysis of the ice front before and after calving, and rift detection where it was not visible in imagery as a ∼1 m surface depression, suggesting that it propagates as a basal fracture. Our results show that ICESat‐2 can provide process‐scale information about iceberg calving.

 

Mass loss from Antarctica’s three largest ice shelves is dominated by calving, primarily of large tabular icebergs every few decades. Smaller, more frequent calving events also occur, but it is more difficult to detect them and quantify their contribution to total ice‐shelf mass loss. We used surface elevation data from NASA’s ICESat‐2 laser altimeter to examine the structure of the Ross Ice Shelf front between October 2018 and July 2020. Profiles frequently show a depression a few meters deep about 200–800 m upstream of the front, with higher values on the eastern portion of the ice shelf. This structure results from bending due to buoyancy of a submerged ice bench generated by ice‐front melting near the waterline when warm water is present in summer. These bending stresses may cause small‐scale calving events whose frequency would change as summer sea ice and atmosphere–ocean heat exchanges vary over time.

 

From 2015 to 2017, theROSETTA‐Ice project comprehensively mapped Antarctica's Ross Ice Shelf using IcePod, a newly developed aerogeophysical platform. The campaign imaged the ice‐shelf surface with lidar and its internal structure with ice‐penetrating radar. TheROSETTA‐Ice data was combined with pre‐existing ice surface and bed topography digital elevation models to create the first augmented reality (AR) visualisation of the Antarctic Ice Sheet, using the Microsoft HoloLens. TheROSETTA‐Ice datasets support cross‐disciplinary science that aims to understand 4D processes, namely the change of 3D ice‐shelf structures over time. The work presented here usesARto visualise this dataset in 3D and highlights howARcan be simultaneously a useful research tool for interdisciplinary geoscience as well as an effective device for science communication education.