Ice rises hold valuable records revealing the ice dynamics and climatic history of Antarctic coastal areas from the Last Glacial Maximum to today. This history is often reconstructed from isochrone radar stratigraphy and simulations focusing on Raymond arch evolution beneath the divides. However, this relies on complex ice-flow models where many parameters are unconstrained by observations. Our study explores quad-polarimetric, phase-coherent radar data to enhance understanding near ice divides and domes, using Hammarryggen Ice Rise (HIR) as a case study. Analysing a 5 km profile intersecting the dome, we derive vertical strain rates and ice-fabric properties. These align with ice core data near the summit, increasing confidence in tracing signatures from the dome to the flanks. The Raymond effect is evident, correlating with surface strain rates and radar stratigraphy. Stability is inferred over millennia for the saddle connecting HIR to the mainland, but dome ice-fabric appears relatively young compared to 2D model predictions. In a broader context, quad-polarimetric measurements provide valuable insights into ice-flow models, particularly for anisotropic rheology. Including quad-polarimetric data advances our ability to reconstruct past ice flow dynamics and climatic history in ice rises.

Ice shelves, which regulate ice flow from the Antarctic ice sheet towards the ocean, are shaped by spatiotemporal patterns of surface accumulation, surface/basal melt and ice dynamics. Therefore, an ice dynamic and accumulation history are imprinted in the internal ice stratigraphy, which can be imaged by radar in the form of internal reflection horizons (IRHs). Here, IRHs were derived from radar data combined across radar platforms (airborne and ground-based) in coastal eastern Dronning Maud Land (East Antarctica), comprising three ice rises and adjacent two ice shelves. To facilitate interpretation of dominant spatiotemporal patterns of processes shaping the local IRH geometry, traced IRHs are classified into three different types (laterally continuous, discontinuous or absent/IRH-free). Near-surface laterally continuous IRHs reveal local accumulation patterns, reflecting the mean easterly wind direction, and correlate with surface slopes. Areas of current and past increased ice flow and internal deformation are marked by discontinuous or IRH-free zones, and can inform about paleo ice-stream dynamics. The established IRH datasets extend continent-wide mapping efforts of IRHs to an important and climatically sensitive ice marginal region of Antarctica and are ready for integration into ice-flow models to improve predictions of Antarctic ice drainage.

Flux conditions are semi-analytical expressions that can be used to determine the flux at the grounding line of marine ice sheets. In the glaciology literature, such flux conditions have initially been established for the Weertman and Coulomb friction laws. However, the extension to more general and complex friction laws, such as the Budd friction law, for which basal friction depends on both the basal velocity and the effective pressure, is a topic of recent research. Several studies have also shown that hybrid friction laws, which consider a transition between a power-law friction far from the grounding line and a plastic behaviour close to it, were good candidates for improved modelling of marine ice sheets. In this article, we show that the flux conditions previously derived for the Weertman and Coulomb friction laws can be generalised to flux conditions for the Budd friction law with two different effective-pressure models. In doing so, we build a bridge between the results obtained for these two friction laws. We provide a justification for the existence and uniqueness of a solution to the boundary-layer problem based on asymptotic developments. We also generalise our results to hybrid friction laws, based on a parametrisation of the flux condition. Finally, we discuss the validity of the assumptions made during the derivation, and we provide additional explicit expressions for the flux that stay valid when the bedrock slopes are important or when the friction coefficients are relatively small.

The future contributions of the Antarctic Ice Sheet to sea level rise will depend on the evolution of its surface mass balance (SMB), which could amplify/dampen mass losses increasingly observed at the ice sheet's edge. In situ constraints of SMB over annual-to-decadal timescales consist mostly of firn/ice cores that have a surface footprint $\sim$cm$^{2}$. SMB constraints also come from climate models, which have a higher temporal resolution but a larger surface footprint of several km$^{2}$. We use ice-penetrating radar data to obtain an intermediate spatial and temporal resolution SMB record over three ice rises along the Princess Ragnhild Coast. The co-located ice cores allow us to obtain absolute radar-derived SMB rates at a multi-annual-to-decadal temporal resolution. By comparing the ice core SMB measurements and the radar-derived SMB records, we determine that pointwise measurements of SMB are representative of a small surface area, $\sim 200-500$ m radius extending from the ice core drill site for the ice rises studied here, and that the pointwise measurements are systematically 7–15 cm w.e. a$^{-1}$ lower than the mean SMB value calculated for the whole ice rises. However, ice core records are representative of an entire ice rise's temporal variability at the temporal resolution examined.

Antarctica's ice shelves modulate the grounded ice flow, and weakening of ice shelves due to climate forcing will decrease their ‘buttressing’ effect, causing a response in the grounded ice. While the processes governing ice-shelf weakening are complex, uncertainties in the response of the grounded ice sheet are also difficult to assess. The Antarctic BUttressing Model Intercomparison Project (ABUMIP) compares ice-sheet model responses to decrease in buttressing by investigating the ‘end-member’ scenario of total and sustained loss of ice shelves. Although unrealistic, this scenario enables gauging the sensitivity of an ensemble of 15 ice-sheet models to a total loss of buttressing, hence exhibiting the full potential of marine ice-sheet instability. All models predict that this scenario leads to multi-metre (1–12 m) sea-level rise over 500 years from present day. West Antarctic ice sheet collapse alone leads to a 1.91–5.08 m sea-level rise due to the marine ice-sheet instability. Mass loss rates are a strong function of the sliding/friction law, with plastic laws cause a further destabilization of the Aurora and Wilkes Subglacial Basins, East Antarctica. Improvements to marine ice-sheet models have greatly reduced variability between modelled ice-sheet responses to extreme ice-shelf loss, e.g. compared to the SeaRISE assessments.

Direct measurements of spatially distributed vertical strain within ice masses are scientifically valuable but challenging to acquire. We use manual marker tracking and automatic cross correlation between two repeat optical televiewer (OPTV) images of an ~100 m-long borehole at Derwael Ice Rise (DIR), Antarctica, to reconstruct discretised, vertical strain rate and velocity at millimetre resolution. The resulting profiles decay with depth, from −0.07 a−1 at the surface to ~−0.002 a−1 towards the base in strain and from −1.3 m a−1 at the surface to ~−0.5 m a−1 towards the base in velocity. Both profiles also show substantial local variability. Three coffee-can markers installed at different depths into adjacent boreholes record consistent strain rates and velocities, although averaged over longer depth ranges and subject to greater uncertainty. Measured strain-rate profiles generally compare closely with output from a 2-D ice-flow model, while the former additionally reveal substantial high-resolution variability. We conclude that repeat OPTV borehole logging represents an effective means of measuring distributed vertical strain at millimetre scale, revealing high-resolution variability along the uppermost ~100 m of DIR, Antarctica.

Radar power returned from the basal interface along a 42 km long profile over an ice-rise promontory and the adjacent Roi Baudouin ice shelf, Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica, is analyzed to infer spatial variations in basal reflectivity and hence the basal environment. Extracting basal reflectivity from basal returned power requires an englacial attenuation model. We estimate attenuation in two ways: (1) using a temperature-dependent model with input from thermomechanical ice-flow models; and (2) using a radar method that linearly approximates the geometrically corrected returned power with ice thickness. The two methods give different results. We argue that attenuation calculated using a modeled temperature profile is more robust than the widely used radar method, especially in locations where depth-averaged attenuation varies spatially or where the patterns of basal reflectivity correlate with the patterns of the ice thickness.

We have drilled 13 boreholes within and around a through-cutting rift on the (unofficially named) Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf, East Antarctica. Logging by optical televiewer (OPTV) combined with core inspection has resulted in the identification and characterization of several material facies. Outside the rift, OPTV-imaged annual layering indicates ~150 years of accumulation over the 66 m length of one of the boreholes. Luminosity analysis of this image also reveals the presence of numerous dark melt layers as well as a systematic decrease in background luminosity, interpreted in terms of a progressive increase in light transmission during firnification. We identify four material facies within the rift: snow, granular ice, marine ice and unconsolidated platelets. We interpret the granular ice facies as snow that has been saturated by percolating sea water, and the underlying marine ice as compacted buoyant platelets that have adhered to the rift base. Core sections reveal the presence of tubular channels within the marine ice, indicating that it is macroporous and permeable to sea water. The lower boundary of this facies merges into a mushy layer of unconsolidated platelets that were successfully imaged by OPTV, revealing irregular sub-horizontal layering similar to that reported previously on the basis of (directional) borehole video.

A high-resolution time-dependent two-dimensional flowline model was developed, which takes into account all relevant stresses (i.e. both shear and longitudinal stresses), and which is solved on a fixed finite-difference grid. Special attention was paid to the computational efficiency. A comparison is made with a similar model that solves the velocity field according to the shallow-ice approximation. Both models were applied to an East Antarctic flowline for which the data on surface and bedrock elevation were sampled at different spatial resolutions. The numerical analysis deals with the importance of longitudinal stresses at the ice-sheet/ice-shelf interface at different grid sizes" and the importance of basal drag vs driving stress in basal sliding laws. At a grid resolution of 5–10 km the force balance indicates that all stress components are of equal importance in an area that is larger than the nominal grid size. When sliding becomes dominant, this transition zone considerably widens. Furthermore, the longitudinal stress deviator is found to vary considerably with depth due to the thermomechanical coupling.

High-resolution numerical model experiments were carried out along two flowlines in Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica, one flowline passing through the central part of a coastal mountain range and the other along a major continental ice stream (Shirase Glacier). Results showed that ice-sheet behaviour in response to the climatic signal differs locally. Response patterns are different for the inland ice sheet, for the coastal ice sheet and around marginal (subglacial) mountains. Modelled response time series were analyzed by lag-correlation, range and fractal analysis. Local differentiation in ice-sheet response is primarily related to the sensitive interplay between surface accumulation patterns, thermomechanical properties of the ice sheet and bedrock roughness.

During three summer field seasons (2003, 2005 and 2006) we carried out radio-echo sounding measurements with a 5MHz (central frequency) ice-penetrating radar on McCall Glacier, Arctic Alaska, USA, along the central flowline and 17 cross-profiles. Two-way travel time was, after migration, converted to ice thickness, which, in combination with a recent digital elevation model of the surface of the glaciated area, resulted in a detailed map of the bed topography. This reveals a complex basal topography in the confluence area of the different glacial cirques. The pattern of subglacial water flow following the hydraulic potential gradient was calculated for the whole glacier area and shows a confluence of subglacial water downstream from the confluence of the glacier cirques. From the ice-thickness map the total ice volume was estimated as slightly less than 0.5 km3. Bed reflection power (BRP) was determined for the glacier after correction for ice-thickness dependence. Results reveal a clear relationship between the BRP pattern and basal sliding anomalies along the central flowline.

Central Asian glaciers, compared to other glaciers in the world, should exhibit a different response to changing climate owing to (i) the extreme continentality that gives rise to aridity and large seasonal temperature variations, and (ii) the coincidence of accumulation and ablation seasons in summer. A detailed 4year field survey has been carried out on Sofiyskiy glacier in the south Chuya range(Altai mountains), Russia. Field observations reveal that this glacier retreated steadily during the 20th century at a rate of 18.3 m a–1, considerably faster than Maliy Aktru glacier, 30km to the north. Based on radio-echo sounding (RES), the subglacial topography of Sofiyskiy glacier has been reconstructed, and stake and snow-pit measurements enable the determination of surface velocity and mass balance. Basal sliding plays an important role in Sofiyskiyglacier’s behaviour, as is shown by a force-balance analysis. An analysis of RES measurements yields the bed reflection power (BRP). Using the three-layer reflectivity model of Born and Wolf (1986), the BRP is compared with the theoretical bed reflectivity for two contrasting layers of varying porosity and thickness. Results indicate that Sofiyskiy glacier possibly exhibits a polythermal regime.

We used internal ice layers from a radio-echo sounding profile between the Kohnen and Dome Fuji deep drilling sites to infer the spatio-temporal pattern of accumulation rate in this sector of Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. Continuous internal reflection horizons can be traced to about half of the ice thickness and have a maximum age of approximately 72.7 ka BP. To infer palaeo-accumulation rates from the dated layers, we derived the thinning functions from a flow calculation with a high-resolution higher-order model of Dronning Maud Land embedded into a three-dimensional thermomechanical model of the Antarctic ice sheet. The method takes into account complex ice-flow dynamics and advection effects that cannot be dealt with using traditional local approaches. We selected seven time intervals over which we determine the average accumulation rate and average surface temperature at the place and time of origin of the layer particles. Our results show lower accumulation rates along eastern parts of the profile for the late Holocene (0–5 ka BP) than are shown by existing maps, which had no surface control points. During the last glacial period we find a substantially lower accumulation rate than predicted by the usual approach linking palaeo-accumulation rates to the condensation temperature above the surface inversion layer. These findings were used to fine-tune the relation between accumulation rate and temperature.

We analyzed the ice flow of McCall Glacier, Alaska, USA, by numerical glacier modeling and radio-echo sounding (RES). Model experiments were carried out with a higher-order numerical ice-flow model, and results were validated with measurements of annual ice velocities and compared with previous estimates of ice-flow dynamics. During the 2003 summer campaign, detailed RES measurements were carried out along the central flowline of the ablation area with a 5 MHz (central frequency) ice-penetrating radar, where 10m ice temperatures are approximately –7.5˚C. The bed reflection power (BRP) beneath this central flowline abruptly increases at one location area, followed by a slow decrease down-glacier. The model experiments show that basal sliding (<50%) is necessary to match the observed annual mean surface velocities in the area that is characterized by high BRP values. However, when thermomechanical effects are taken into account, a temperate basal ice layer is apparent in the ablation area, which locally softens the ice and can explain to a certain extent the anomalous flow field. The model results confirm that the present temperature field is a remnant of a larger glacier geometry that was near steady state before the onset of enhanced surface thinning in the 1970s.

The Ragnhild glaciers are three enhanced-flow features situated between the Sør Rondane and Yamato Mountains in eastern Dronning Maud Land, Antarctica. We investigate the glaciological mechanisms controlling their existence and behavior, using a three-dimensional numerical thermomechanical ice-sheet model including higher-order stress gradients. This model is further extended with a steady-state model of subglacial water flow, based on the hydraulic potential gradient. Both static and dynamic simulations are capable of reproducing the enhanced ice-flow features. Although basal topography is responsible for the existence of the flow pattern, thermomechanical effects and basal sliding seem to locally soften and lubricate the ice in the main trunks. Lateral drag is a contributing factor in balancing the driving stress, as shear margins can be traced over a distance of hundreds of kilometers along west Ragnhild glacier. Different basal sliding scenarios show that central Ragnhild glacier stagnates as west Ragnhild glacier accelerates and progressively drains the whole catchment area by ice and water piracy.

The recent fluctuation of the central Asian climate, and its effect on the region’s glaciers, is poorly known, largely because of a lack of knowledge of the dynamic behaviour of so-called summer-accumulation-type glaciers. In this study, a one-dimensional numerical glacier model is used to simulate the dynamic response of Sofiyskiy glacier, Altai mountains, Russia, to climate forcing. A successful simulation of the observed historical front variations was accomplished by dynamic calibration. This resulted in a reconstruction of the recent mass-balance history of the glacier, showing a distinct decline in surface mass balance in the second half of the 19th century, a slightly higher mass balance at the beginning of the 20th century, followed by a steady decline towards present conditions. The future response of Sofiyskiy glacier was projected for six 21st-century climate scenarios. Under a “no-change” scenario, the glacier will retreat > 2 km by 2100. If air temperature gradually rises by > 5°C during this century, the glacier will vanish around 2100. Basic response characteristics of Sofiyskiy glacier were determined. These indicate rather low mass-balance sensitivity to temperature change, but a strong front reaction due to geometric conditions.

Several hundred subglacial lakes have been identified beneath Antarctica so far. Their interaction with the overlying ice sheet and their influence on ice dynamics are still subjects of investigation. While it is known that lakes reduce the ice-sheet friction towards a free-slip basal boundary condition, little is known about how basal melting and freezing at the lake/ice interface modifies the ice dynamics, thermal regime and ice rheology. In this diagnostic study we simulate the Vostok Subglacial Lake area with a coupled full Stokes 3-D ice-flow model and a 3-D lake-circulation model. The exchange of energy (heat) and mass at the lake/ice interface increases (decreases) the temperature in the ice column above the lake by up to 10% in freezing (melting) areas, resulting in a significant modification of the highly nonlinear ice viscosity. We show that basal lubrication at the bottom of the ice sheet has a significant impact not only on the ice flow above the lake itself, but also on the vicinity and far field. While the ice flow crosses Vostok Subglacial Lake, flow divergence is observed and modelled. The heterogeneous basal-mass-balance pattern at the lake/ice interface intensifies this divergence. Instead of interactive coupling between the ice-flow model and the lake-flow model, only a single iteration is required for a realistic representation of the ice/water interaction. In addition, our study indicates that simplified parameterizations of the surface temperature boundary condition might lead to a velocity error of 20% for the area of investigation.

Results from the Heinrich Event Intercomparison (HEINO) topic of the Ice-Sheet Model Intercomparison Project (ISMIP) are presented. ISMIP HEINO was designed to explore internal large-scale ice-sheet instabilities in different contemporary ice-sheet models. These instabilities are of interest because they are a possible cause of Heinrich events. A simplified geometry experiment reproduces the main characteristics of the Laurentide ice sheet, including the sedimented region over Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait. The model experiments include a standard run plus seven variations. Nine dynamic/thermodynamic ice-sheet models were investigated; one of these models contains a combination of the shallow-shelf (SSA) and shallow-ice approximation (SIA), while the remaining eight models are of SIA type only. Seven models, including the SIA–SSA model, exhibit oscillatory surges with a period of ∼1000 years for a broad range of parameters, while two models remain in a permanent state of streaming for most parameter settings. In a number of models, the oscillations disappear for high surface temperatures, strong snowfall and small sediment sliding parameters. In turn, low surface temperatures and low snowfall are favourable for the ice-surge cycles. We conclude that further improvement of ice-sheet models is crucial for adequate, robust simulations of cyclic large-scale instabilities.

We applied a newly developed three-dimensional, time-dependent, thermomechanical icesheet model including higher-order stress gradients, to simulate the ice flow across subglacial Vostok lake, East Antarctica. Simulations of both ‘lake’ and ‘no lake’ conditions (by treating the ice/lake interface as a stress-free surface, similar to an ice shelf) demonstrate the effects of the subglacial lake, such as pronounced surface flattening and ice-flow turning, on the overall ice dynamics in the vicinity, although subglacial lake dynamics are not treated explicitly. When buoyancy forces and hydrostatic equilibrium of the ice above the lake are taken into account, the along-lake surface slope is preserved and the ice-flow pattern is in accord with sparse observations. Model experiments point to a local ice speed-up in the northern part of the lake, which can be associated with the onset of an enhanced ice-flow feature, more precisely the onset of the Totten Glacier catchment.