This award is for support of a two year study of calving dynamics for the floating ice shelf of Jakobshavns Isbrae on the west coast of Greenland. Jakobshavns presents the full range of ice calving environments, ranging from slow sheet-flow calving from a south-facing ice wall into a shallow proglacial lake, through faster sheet-flow calving from a north-facing ice cliff into water of increasing depth, to the fastest known stream-flow calving from the west-facing cliff of a floating ice shelf in Jakobshavns Isfjord. Photogrammetric maps showing ice topography and ice velocity will be used as input for finite-element computer modeling of both homogeneous and nonhomogeneous creep of ice that leads to fracture (crevassing) and calving. The proposed study has applications beyond Jakobshavns Isbrae, in particular applications relating to calving of Antarctic ice shelves.
