Articles | Volume 11, issue 12
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-5149-2018
https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-5149-2018
Model description paper
 | 
20 Dec 2018
Model description paper |  | 20 Dec 2018

A continuum model (PSUMEL1) of ice mélange and its role during retreat of the Antarctic Ice Sheet

David Pollard, Robert M. DeConto, and Richard B. Alley

Data sets

Modeling ice melange in an ice-sheet model D. Pollard, R.M. DeConto, R.B. Alley https://doi.org/10.18113/D3KQ19

Model code and software

Modeling ice melange in an ice-sheet model D. Pollard, R.M. DeConto, R.B. Alley https://doi.org/10.18113/D3KQ19

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Short summary
Around the margins of ice sheets in contact with the ocean, calving of icebergs can generate large amounts of floating ice debris called "mélange". In major Greenland fjords, mélange significantly slows down ice flow from upstream. Our study applies numerical models to past and possible future episodes of rapid Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat. We find that, due to larger spatial scales, Antarctic mélange does not significantly impede flow or slow ice retreat and associated sea level rise.