This title appears in the Scientific Report :
2014
Please use the identifier:
http://hdl.handle.net/2128/15627 in citations.
Please use the identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J215 in citations.
The variability of tidewater-glacier calving: origin of event-size and interval distributions
The variability of tidewater-glacier calving: origin of event-size and interval distributions
Calving activity at the termini of tidewater glaciers produces a wide range of iceberg sizes atirregular intervals. We present calving-event data obtained from continuous observations of the terminiof two tidewater glaciers on Svalbard, and show that the distributions of event sizes and inter-eventi...
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Personal Name(s): | CHAPUIS, Anne |
---|---|
Tetzlaff, Tom (Corresponding Author) | |
Contributing Institute: |
Computational and Systems Neuroscience; INM-6 Computational and Systems Neuroscience; IAS-6 |
Published in: | Journal of glaciology, 60 (2014) 222, S. 622 - 634 |
Imprint: |
Cambridge
Soc.
2014
|
DOI: |
10.3189/2014JoG13J215 |
Document Type: |
Journal Article |
Research Program: |
Brain-inspired multiscale computation in neuromorphic hybrid systems Supercomputing and Modelling for the Human Brain Helmholtz Alliance on Systems Biology Theory, modelling and simulation Signalling Pathways and Mechanisms in the Nervous System |
Link: |
Restricted OpenAccess Restricted OpenAccess |
Publikationsportal JuSER |
Please use the identifier: http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/2014JoG13J215 in citations.
Calving activity at the termini of tidewater glaciers produces a wide range of iceberg sizes atirregular intervals. We present calving-event data obtained from continuous observations of the terminiof two tidewater glaciers on Svalbard, and show that the distributions of event sizes and inter-eventintervals can be reproduced by a simple calving model, focusing on the mutual interplay between calvingand the destabilization of the glacier terminus. The event-size distributions of both the field and themodel data extend over several orders of magnitude and resemble power laws. The distributions of intereventintervals are broad, but have a less pronounced tail. In the model, the width of the size distributionincreases with the calving susceptibility of the glacier terminus, a parameter measuring the effect ofcalving on the stress in the local neighborhood of the calving region. Inter-event interval distributions, incontrast, are insensitive to the calving susceptibility. Above a critical susceptibility, small perturbations ofthe glacier result in ongoing self-sustained calving activity. The model suggests that the shape of theevent-size distribution of a glacier is informative about its proximity to this transition point. Observationsof rapid glacier retreats can be explained by supercritical self-sustained calving. |