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Ice shelf basal melt sensitivity to tide-induced mixing based on the theory of subglacial plumes
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  • Josephine Anselin,
  • Brad C Reed,
  • Adrian Jenkins,
  • Mattias Green
Josephine Anselin
British Antarctic Survey
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Brad C Reed
Bangor University
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Adrian Jenkins
Northumbria University
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Mattias Green
Bangor University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Abstract

Tidal currents are known to influence basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves through two types of mechanisms: local processes taking place within the boundary current adjacent to the ice shelf-ocean interface and far-field processes influencing the properties of water masses entering the cavity. The separate effects of these processes are poorly understood, limiting our ability to parameterize tide-driven ice shelf-ocean interactions. Here we focus on the small-scale processes within the boundary current and we apply a one-dimensional plume model to a range of ice base geometries characteristic of Antarctic ice shelves to study the sensitivity of basal melt rates to different representations of tide-driven turbulent mixing. Our simulations demonstrate that the direction of the relative change in melt rate due to tides depends on the approach chosen to parameterize entrainment of ambient water into the plume, a process not yet well constrained by observations. A theoretical assessment based on an analogy with tidal bottom boundary layers suggests that tide-driven shear at the ice shelf-ocean interface enhances mixing through the pycnocline. Under this assumption our simulations predict an increase in melt and freeze rates along the base of the ice shelf when adding tides into the model. An approximation is provided to account for this response in basal melt rate parameterizations that neglect the effect of tide-induced turbulent mixing