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Application of a continuum-mechanical model for the flow of anisotropic polar ice to the EDML core, Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 September 2017

Hakime Seddik
Affiliation:
Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0819, Japan E-mail: hakime@lowtem.hokudai.ac.jp
Ralf Greve
Affiliation:
Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0819, Japan E-mail: hakime@lowtem.hokudai.ac.jp
Luca Placidi
Affiliation:
Department of Structural and Geotechnical Engineering, ‘Sapienza’, University of Rome, Via Eudossiana 18,I-00184 Rome, Italy
Ilka Hamann
Affiliation:
Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Columbusstraße, D-27568 Bremerhaven, Germany
Olivier Gagliardini
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Glaciologie et Geophysique de l’Environment du CNRS (associéà l’Université Joseph Fourier–Grenoble I), 54 rue Molière, BP 96, F-38402 Saint-Martin d’Hères Cedex, France
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Abstract

We present an application of the newly developed CAFFE model (Continuum-mechanical, Anisotropic Flow model based on an anisotropic Flow Enhancement factor) to the EPICA ice core at Kohnen Station, Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica (referred to as the EDML core). A one-dimensional flow model for the site is devised, which includes the anisotropic flow law and the fabric evolution equation of the CAFFE model. Three different solution methods are employed: (1) computing the ice flow based on the flow law of the CAFFE model and the measured fabrics; (2) solving the CAFFE fabric evolution equation under the simplifying assumption of transverse isotropy; and (3) solving the unrestricted CAFFE fabric evolution equation. Method (1) demonstrates clearly the importance of the anisotropic fabric in the ice column for the flow velocity. The anisotropic enhancement factor produced with method (2) agrees reasonably well with that of method (1), even though the measured fabric shows a girdle structure (which breaks the transverse isotropy) in large parts of the ice core. For method (3), we find that the measured fabric is reproduced well by the model down to ∼2100 m depth. Systematic deviations at greater depths are attributed to the disregard of migration recrystallization in the model.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © International Glaciological Society 2008
Figure 0

Fig. 1. Basal, prismatic and pyramidal glide planes in the hexagonal ice-Ih crystal, sketched as a right hexagonal prism (Faria, 2003).

Figure 1

Fig. 2. Decomposition of the deviatoric stress vector (S · n) into components normal ((n·S·n) n) and tangential (Stt) to the basal plane.

Figure 2

Fig. 3. Uniaxial compression on single maximum (UC/SM) and simple shear on single maximum (SS/SM) for a small sample of polycrystalline ice. Stresses are indicated by black arrows, and the single maximum fabric is represented by the dark grey arrows within the ice sample.

Figure 3

Fig. 4. Anisotropic enhancement factor as a function of the deformability according to Equation (11), for Emax = 10 and Emin = 0.

Figure 4

Fig. 5. Selected Schmidt diagrams for the observed fabrics of the EDML ice core between depths of 54 and 2563 m. Centres of diagrams coincide with the core axis. All examples displayed here are from vertically cut thin sections, rotated to the horizontal view. n denotes the number of grains included. Note that the orientations of the horizontal planes with respect to the ice-flow direction are unknown.

Figure 5

Fig. 6. Local coordinate system for the EDML site (the z axis points downwards). Underlying topographical map by Wesche and others (2007). The dashed lines indicate approximate flowlines, confining the likely origin of the EDML ice.

Figure 6

Fig. 7. Dansgaard –Johnsen distributions of (a) the vertical strain rate and (b) the temperature at the EDML site. The depth of the kinks is at two-thirds of the local ice thickness. The strain rate at the surface has been chosen such that the downward vertical velocity equals the accumulation rate and the surface and basal temperatures match the ice-core data. The bottom is indicated by the horizontal thick lines.

Figure 7

Fig. 8. Sketch of the rotation of the girdle fabrics in order to align them with the x axis (case R13) and the y axis (case R23) in the Schmidt projection.

Figure 8

Fig. 9. Variation along the EDML ice core of (a) the enhancement factor; (b) the ice fluidity; and (c) the horizontal velocity. ‘Data R13’ and ‘Data R23’ represent the solutions obtained with the measured girdle fabrics rotated to align with the x and y direction, respectively.

Figure 9

Fig. 10. Variation along the EDML ice core of (a) the enhancement factor and (b) the horizontal velocity. ‘Model’ represents the solutions based on the fabric evolution (Equation (33)) for transverse isotropy.

Figure 10

Fig. 11. Schmidt diagram representation of the EDML fabrics (ODF) at depths between 54 and 2563 m computed by Equation (32). As in Figure 5, the centres of the diagrams coincide with the core axis and the projection is on the horizontal (xy) plane.

Figure 11

Fig. 12. Variation along the EDML ice core of (a) the enhancement factor and (b) the three non-zero components of the second-order orientation tensor a(2). ‘Model’ represents the solutions based on the unrestricted fabric evolution Equation (32).