Publication Date:
2015-10-07
Description:
Shear stress at the base of glaciers controls basal sliding and is therefore immensely important for glacial erosion and landscape evolution in arctic and high-altitude areas. However, the inaccessible nature of glacial beds complicates empirical studies of basal shear stress, and little is therefore known of its spatial and temporal distribution. In this study we seek to improve our understanding of basal shear stress using a higher-order numerical ice model (iSOSIA). In order to test the validity of the higher-order model, we first compare the detailed distribution of basal shear stress in iSOSIA and in a three-dimensional full-Stokes model (Elmer/ICE). We find that iSOSIA and Elmer/ICE predict similar first-order stress and velocity patterns, and that differences are restricted to local variations over length-scales on the order of the grid resolution. In addition, we find that subglacial shear stress is relatively uniform and insensitive to suble changes in local topographic relief. Following these initial stress benchmark experiments, we use iSOSIA to investigate changes in basal shear stress as a result of landscape evolution by glacial erosion. The experiments with landscape evolution show that subglacial shear stress decreases as glacial erosion transforms preglacial V-shaped valleys into U-shaped troughs. These findings support the hypothesis that glacial erosion is most efficient in the early stages of glacial landscape development.
Electronic ISSN:
2196-6338
Topics:
Geosciences
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