Abstract

Melting of the great ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland has the potential to raise sea level significantly. Whereas many inland ice sheets are controlled by a balance between accumulation of snow at high altitudes and melting at low altitudes, marine ice sheets, which flow into the ocean, are controlled dynamically by the rate at which ice detaches from the submarine bedrock along which it flows to form floating ice shelves. Fundamental aspects of the flow of marine ice sheets can be understood using viscous fluid dynamics. I shall describe recent laboratory and mathematical studies of marine ice sheets, which are helping us to understand what controls them from collapse.