Surface freshening of the Southern Ocean driven by meltwater discharge from the Antarctic ice sheet has been shown to influence global climate dynamics. However, most climate models fail to account for spatially and temporally varying freshwater inputs from ice sheets, introducing significant uncertainty into climate projections. We present the first historically calibrated projections of Antarctic freshwater fluxes (sub-shelf melting, calving, and surface meltwater runoff) to 2300 that can be used to force climate models lacking interactive ice sheets. Our findings indicate substantial changes in the magnitude and partitioning of Antarctic freshwater discharge over the coming decades and centuries, particularly under very-high warming scenarios, driven by the progressive collapse of the West Antarctic ice shelves. We project a shift in the form and location of Antarctic freshwater sources, as liquid sub-shelf melting increases under the two climate scenarios considered, and surface meltwater runoff could potentially become a dominant contributor under extreme atmospheric warming.

How to cite: Coulon, V., De Rydt, J., Gregov, T., Qin, Q., and Pattyn, F.: Future Freshwater Fluxes From the Antarctic Ice Sheet, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-5701, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-5701, 2025.

Increased ice loss from the West Antarctic Ice Sheet plays a significant role in determining future sea level rise. Much of this loss originates from within the Amundsen Sea sector, where the floating components of ice sheets, the ice shelves, are expected to melt more rapidly over the coming century. This increased melting is caused by warm waters entering the continental shelf and melting these ice shelves from below. While models project an increase in ocean warming over the coming century, the causes behind this warming are little understood. In this study, we untangle how climate change will affect ocean warming in the future by comparing ocean warming under high emissions to pre-industrial simulations. An anthropogenic signal in ocean warming first emerges between 2013 and 2018 in the simulations and continues to strengthen under high emissions forcing. We then compare the effects of stronger winds shifted southwards (wind forcing) against the impacts of a warmer, wetter atmosphere (thermodynamic forcing). We find that the thermodynamic changes are primarily responsible for the predicted Amundsen Sea warming. Under a warmer and wetter climate, the ice shelves experience an increase in the poleward flow of warmer waters at depth, leading to more melting.

How to cite: Turner, K., Naughten, K., Holland, P., and Naveira Garabato, A.: Modelled centennial ocean warming in the Amundsen Sea driven by thermodynamic atmospheric changes, not winds, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-7100, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-7100, 2025.

How to cite: Silvano, A., Castagno, P., and Nihashi, S.: What is happening in the Ross Sea? , EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-4501, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-4501, 2025.

Ocean temperatures on the continental shelf in the Ross Sea and beneath the Ross Ice Shelf have remained cold in recent decades, despite climate-related warming trends in nearby regions, such as the Amundsen Sea. The Ross Sea is an important area for water mass transformation and the formation of Antarctic Bottom Water, an essential water mass in the global overturning circulation. Inflows of Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) and outflows of High Salinity Shelf Water and Antarctic Bottom Water across the continental shelf break and beneath the Ross Ice Shelf, particularly in the west, are strongly modulated by tides. We find that tidal forcing modifies the cross-shelf circulation and regulates the inflow of warm CDW and sub-ice shelf warming, with associated impacts on basal melt rates.

Using a regional ocean model configuration (NEMO) at 1/4° resolution, which includes both the Amundsen and the Ross seas, we explore the influence of tides on potential future warming in the Ross Sea and continental shelf with four simulations as follows. The model is run with two different climate conditions: firstly, the control simulation is forced by repeat normal year atmospheric forcings, and secondly, a future 2300 climate scenario simulation is forced with air temperature +10°C and precipitation increased by a factor of two. We assess the sensitivity of both the control simulation and the 2300 climate scenario to tidal forcing by running each simulation firstly with only surface tidal forcing (no tides) and then with both surface tidal forcing and tidal harmonic forcing at the model domain lateral boundaries (tidal forcing). Under 2300 temperature and precipitation conditions, in the simulation with no tides, the Ross Ice Shelf cavity warms rapidly to temperatures of over 1°C during a 20 year period, with a rapid increase in basal melt rates. This is followed by a slower cooling period with a stabilisation of basal melt rates, leading to the cavity being filled with cold, fresh water by the end of the simulation period. In the simulation with tidal forcing, the cavity warms more gradually and remains warm, at temperatures at or above 0°C, with an associated increase in basal melt rates, for the duration of the simulation period. The tidal modulation leads to more gradual warming of the Ross Ice Shelf cavity and prevents a rapid transition of the cavity from cold to warm and from warm to fresh, as we see in the simulation without tides. This work suggests that tides are an important process to be included when modelling future climate projections.

How to cite: Mountford, A. S., Jenkins, A., Bull, C. Y. S., Jourdain, N. C., and Mathiot, P.: The role of tidal modulation on potential future warming behaviour in the Ross Sea, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-18881, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-18881, 2025.

We present a 1000 km transect of Autonomous phase-sensitive Radio Echo Sounding (ApRES) measurements of ice thickness, basal reflection strength, basal melting, and ice-column deformation across the Ross Ice Shelf (RIS). Measurements were gathered across 32 repeat measurement sites and over five austral summers (2015-2020) connecting the grounding line with the distant ice shelf front. ApRES identifies varying basal reflection strength revealing a variety of basal conditions influenced by ice flow and by ice-ocean interaction at the ice base. Reflection strength is lower across the central RIS, characterised by higher strengths from major glaciers and ice streams and lower strengths in shear margins and suture zones. Strong reflections in the near-front and near-grounding line regions correspond with higher basal melt rates, up to 0.47 ± 0.02 m a^-1 in the north. Melting from atmospherically warmed surface water is shown to extend 150-170 km south of the RIS front. Melt rates up to 0.29 ± 0.03 m a^-1 and 0.15 ± 0.03 m a^-1 are observed near the grounding lines of the Whillans and Kamb Ice Stream, respectively. Our surface-based observations generally agree with the basal melt pattern provided by satellite-based methods but provide a distinctly smoother pattern. 

How to cite: Rack, W., Price, D., Snodgrass, J., Purdie, H., Hulbe, C., Wild, C. T., Stevens, C., Marsh, O. J., Ryan, M., McDonald, A., Gragg, K., and Forbes, M.: Basal reflectance and melt rates across the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica, from grounding line to ice shelf front, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-13619, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-13619, 2025.

Models are reported to overestimate basal melting under warm water ice shelves. Hence, ice-ocean heat exchange and its parameterisation are investigated using an ice-ocean boundary current model (IOBCM).  Using the simplified case of a horizontal ice-ocean interface (IOI), we demonstrate how parameterizations in z-coordinate ocean models can significantly overestimate melt rates in boundary layers over dynamically stable pycnoclines when far-field ocean currents are weak.

We propose a simple physics-based parameterisation framework for this specific case. Two case studies are presented: 1) a horizontal IOI with uniform far-field currents; and 2) a sloped IOI with density-driven, sheared currents. We use this parameterisation framework to formulate a hybrid model for the general case of density-driven currents under ice shelves. The hybrid model is a combination of the classic plume model for dynamically unstable regimes and the parameterized version of the IOBCM for dynamically stable regimes. In the hybrid model, for stable regimes, the melt rate as well as its response to warming are significantly reduced when compared with the regime-independent treatment in the classic plume model.

Our findings highlight the importance of careful consideration of the ocean stratification and flow conditions when parameterizing ice-ocean interactions, especially in regions with weak currents and stable stratification.

How to cite: T. Pillai, J. and Jenkins, A.: Ice shelf Basal Melt Parameterisations for Ice-Ocean Boundary Layers over Dynamically Stable Pycnoclines: Case studies using a Boundary Current Model , EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-11731, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-11731, 2025.

Modeling of the interactions between the Southern Ocean, sea ice, and ice shelves can provide insights into understanding the future sea level rising and climate changes, yet the interactions in the Southern Ocean are complex due to the coupled ocean-sea ice-ice shelf system. Considering the complexity of the Southern Ocean, the development of a high-resolution coupled circumpolar ocean-sea ice-ice shelf model could provide insights into the complex processes in the Southern Ocean. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology General Circulation Model (MITgcm), including a sea ice component and an ice shelf component, has been applied to the Southern Ocean to derive estimates of the oceanic state, sea ice evolution, and ice shelf basal fluxes. This Coupled Southern Ocean-Sea Ice-Ice Shelf Model (SOSIM v1.0) uses version c66m of the MITgcm, and the ocean, sea ice, and ice shelf components share the same horizontal grid layout (the Arakawa C grid). The sea ice model in the MITgcm is a viscous-plastic dynamic and zero-layer thermodynamic model, with the so-called zero-layer thermodynamics assuming one layer of ice underneath one layer of snow. The ice-shelf model is used to represent the static and thermodynamically active ice shelves located in the south of the model domain. In this study, the configuration of SOSIM v1.0 is documented, and the simulated features from SOSIM v1.0 are evaluated.

How to cite: Liu, C., wang, Z., Han, X., Leng, H., and Cheng, C.: The Development of the Coupled Southern Ocean-Sea Ice-Ice Shelf Model (SOSIM v1.0), EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-325, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-325, 2025.

Coupled ice sheet and ocean models are vital for projecting the dynamics of the Antarctic Ice Sheet and for predicting future sea level rise. The Filchner-Ronne sector of Antarctica contains a number of deep-bedded ice streams and glaciers potentially vulnerable to the Marine Ice Sheet Instability. Previous work has shown that, in a warming climate, a mode switch in circulation could bring intrusions of warm Circumpolar Deep Water (CDW) that would increase basal melt rates near the deep grounding lines of these vulnerable glaciers. Furthermore, the adjacent Weddell Sea is an important site of global deep water formation that is heavily dependent on the export of Ice Shelf Water. Here, we develop a new ice-ocean coupling framework for linking the global Finite volumE Sea ice Ocean Model (FESOM-2) with the Ice-sheet and Sea-level System Model (ISSM), and we apply this framework to model the Filchner-Ronne sector of Antarctica and the adjacent Weddell Sea. We use adaptive mesh resolution for FESOM-2 ranging from 100 km elements in the far field down to 3 km in the Weddell Sea and the sub-ice cavity. Our ice sheet model resolution varies from 10 km down to ~300 m, with basal friction taken from an inversion fit to present-day surface velocities. We use offline coupling with a timestep of 1 year. We develop an adaptive filtering technique for the transmission of melt rates from the ocean model to the ice model that effectively removes numerical artifacts caused by the z-coordinate representation of the ice base in the ocean model while preserving true structure in the melt rate field. For the adaptation of the ocean model to the updated ice geometry, we develop an iterative horizontal-vertical extrapolation procedure for ocean tracers and a minimal smoothing procedure for ocean velocities to ensure that the ocean model can restart in a manner that is both realistic and numerically stable. Using this coupling architecture, we are able to directly restart the ocean model after the geometry change without requiring either a cold start or a spinup period with reduced timesteps and increased viscosity. We then simulate the evolution of the coupled ice-ocean system, including a moving calving front, over the next century under a range of climate forcing scenarios. We find that the projected mode switch to warm conditions in the Filchner-Ronne cavity happens earlier in our coupled model than in previous projections, with warm CDW first entering the Filchner cavity in ~2035 under SSP585 forcing, followed by ice shelf thinning, grounding line retreat, and grounded ice mass loss in the ensuing decades. By comparison, previous projections in strongly warming scenarios showed the CDW entering the cavity in 2050-2075. These results emphasize the rapid changes in the cryosphere and the Southern Ocean that could arise from continued anthropogenic warming, and the importance of coupled modeling for fully understanding the dynamics of the ice-ocean system.

How to cite: Wolovick, M., Wekerle, C., Humbert, A., Timmermann, R., Rückamp, M., and Kleiner, T.: Coupled Ice Sheet-Ocean Modeling of the Filchner-Ronne sector using ISSM and FESOM-2, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-15530, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-15530, 2025.

Processes at the ice-ocean boundary are key in driving the rapid mass loss of the Greenland ice sheet. However, quantifying and understanding these processes remains challenging, particularly those occurring at the ice terminus beneath the fjord's water surface. Critical mechanisms include the melting of the submerged ice front by ocean water (oceanic melt), which influences the geometry of the glacier terminus and thus the glacier mass loss, and the outflow of subglacial meltwater. Subglacial meltwater can enforce a circulation cell within the fjord, drawing warm ocean water at depth towards the glacier front and enhancing oceanic melt. This circulation generates highly variable and opposing currents across different depths and over time. The harsh and highly dynamic environment makes direct observation and quantification of these circulations extremely difficult. Consequently, our understanding of key mechanisms is limited, restricting our ability to predict the future behaviour of the Greenland ice sheet. To bridge this knowledge gap, more comprehensive observations of circulation patterns near the calving front are crucial to improve our knowledge about the processes in the fjords.

This study exploits a unique time-series of terrestrial radar interferometry (TRI) acquisitions, complemented by fjord measurements, to investigate the tidewater outlet glacier Eqalorutsit Kangilliit Sermiat (EKaS) in South Greenland. A novel approach is applied to this dataset for inferring three-dimensional underwater fjord circulation with high temporal (minute-scale) and spatial (meter-scale) resolution over continuous periods lasting several weeks. An automated iceberg tracking method is employed to analyse the movement of icebergs of various sizes within the approximately 300 m deep fjord over time. TRI-derived elevation models are used to determine the above-water shapes of icebergs and estimate their submerged draft below the waterline. By linking the movements of icebergs with their draft, this study is able to extract the general water circulation patterns in the fjord at different depths, as icebergs of varying sizes are influenced by currents at distinct water layers. These findings are combined with fjord stratification data obtained from CTD profiles, providing a comprehensive understanding of the fjord's circulation dynamics.

The results of the inverted fjord circulation can later be compared with modelled fjord water circulation and combined with observations of glacier dynamics and calving derived from TRI acquisitions to obtain a comprehensive image of the “hidden” interplay between glacier and fjord circulation acting below the waterline. The findings are essential for understanding and predicting the role of oceanic forcing for the Greenland ice sheet mass loss and for assessing the implications for biodiversity within fjords in a changing climate.

How to cite: Kneib-Walter, A., Slater, D., Dachauer, A., and Vieli, A.: Unveiling the 3-dimensional fjord water circulation from iceberg tracking at a calving glacier in Greenland, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-11117, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-11117, 2025.

The interaction between glacier fronts and ocean waters is one of the key uncertainties for projecting future ice mass loss. Direct observations at glacier fronts are sparse, but studies indicate that the magnitude and timing of freshwater fluxes are crucial in determining fjord circulation, ice frontal melt and ecosystem habitability. In particular, wintertime dynamics are severely understudied due to inaccessible conditions, leading to a bias towards summer observations.

Using a novel uncrewed aerial vehicle, we conducted multiple measurements in late winter in South Greenland. Here, we present our in-situ observations of temperature and salinity acquired at the front of a marine-terminating glacier and in surrounding fjords. Our observations indicate the existence of an anomalously fresh pool of water by the glacier front, suggesting that meltwater generated at the bed of the glacier discharges during winter. The results suggest that during winter, warm Atlantic water and nutrients are entrained at the glacier front, leading to enhanced frontal melt and increased nutrient levels. Our findings have implications for understanding the heat exchange between glacier fronts and ocean waters, glacier frontal melt rates, ocean mixing and currents, and biological production.

How to cite: Karlsson, N. B., Hansen, K., How, P., Poulsen, E., Mortensen, J., and Rysgaard, S.: Unique In-situ Measurements from Greenland Fjord Show Winter Freshening by Subglacial Melt, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-10170, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-10170, 2025.

Greenland’s glacial fjords are the sites of climatically important exchanges of heat, freshwater, and nutrients between the North Atlantic Ocean and the Greenland ice sheet, as well as hosting productive ecosystems integral to local communities. Though both glacial inputs and ocean exchanges are modulated by seasonal and interannual variability, observational studies of the complex interactions that take place in these fjords often necessarily rely on data from a single field campaign, amounting to a summer snapshot of fjord conditions.

We have sustained a long-term monitoring program in Sermilik Fjord, a major glacial fjord in southeast Greenland, since 2008, collecting ocean temperature and salinity profiles almost annually, supplemented by ongoing mooring records that cover the full period from 2008-2023. This exceptional data set, at times augmented by the collection of complementary data such as velocity measurements and noble gas, nutrient, and dissolved oxygen concentrations, has given us a more robust understanding of the fjord circulation and water mass transformations. This in turn can be leveraged to help us address a range of questions within this complex system.

We apply this foundational knowledge of Sermilik Fjord to interpret the cycling of mercury in the fjord from full water column measurements of mercury concentrations from summer 2021. We use a water mass analysis to show that the exported glacially-modified waters are depleted in inorganic mercury (HgII) relative to ambient ocean waters. We propose that sediments initially suspended in glacier meltwaters scavenge particle-reactive HgII and are subsequently buried, making the fjord a net sink of oceanic mercury.

How to cite: Lindeman, M., Straneo, F., Holte, J., and Roth, A.: Leveraging sustained monitoring of a southeast Greenland glacial fjord to understand ice-ocean and biogeochemical interactions, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-13605, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-13605, 2025.

The Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) is undergoing accelerated melt and dynamic shifts that influence sediment export, with critical implications for regional biogeochemical cycles and cryospheric processes. However, direct observations of sediment export variability remain limited. To address this gap, we analyzed sediment cores from three glacier-fed fjords in Disko Bay, encompassing diverse catchment areas and glacier dynamics. The spatial extent of sediment packages and ice-rafted debris (IRD) within the cores was assessed, alongside decadal-scale sedimentation rates. These rates were integrated with sedimentary facies analyses and subbottom profiling.

By examining sedimentation rate variations with respect to glacier retreat histories, velocity data, and meltwater flux estimates, we identify contrasting behavior in sediment export amongst the fjords and catchments. The findings highlight the differential roles of glacier dynamics, catchment size, land or marine-terminating glacier fjord type, and meltwater contributions in modulating sedimentation patterns. Furthermore, several hyperpycnal deposits are present that could be the result of glacier outburst floods. We discuss their potential role in supplying sediment to the fjord and the challenges they introduce when trying to establish climate effects. This study underscores the importance of sediment production and mobilization processes from the GrIS and emphasizes the need for regional sediment export assessments to refine predictions of future discharge scenarios.

These results link sedimentary processes to ice sheet dynamics, offering a framework to evaluate processes controlling sediment fluxes in response to ongoing ice sheet retreat and climate change.

How to cite: Delaney, I., Gevers, M., Perchanok, F., Bollen, M., Pierce, E., Wellner, J., Toucanne, S., Liu, P., Overeem, I., Bomou, B., Carlson, B., and Jaccard, S.: Insights from Sediment Export Variability in Three Glacier-Fed Fjords in Disko Bay Kalaallit Nunaat (Greenland), EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-7295, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-7295, 2025.

Interactions between ice masses and the ocean are key couplings in the global climate system. In many cases these interactions occur through glacial fjords, which are long, deep, and narrow troughs connecting the open ocean to marine-terminating glaciers. By controlling the fluxes of ocean heat towards the ice sheet and ice sheet freshwater towards the ocean, glacial fjords play an important role in modulating ice sheet mass loss and the impacts of freshwater on ocean circulation. Yet, these dynamics occur at small scales that are challenging to resolve in earth system models and so are they often ignored, represented in an ad-hoc manner, or studied using expensive high-resolution models that are limited in scope.

Here, we propose a means of capturing glacial fjord dynamics at negligible computational expense in the form of a new "reduced physics" model (FjordRPM) that resembles a "1.5-dimensional" or box model. We describe the make-up of the model and show that it accurately captures glacial fjord circulation when compared with simulations in a full general circulation model (MITgcm). We conclude by considering applications for the model, including furthering the understanding of fjord circulation, the production of ocean temperature boundary conditions for ice sheet models and freshwater boundary conditions for ocean models, and the potential to act as a bridge between ice sheet and ocean in earth system models.

How to cite: Slater, D., Johnstone, E., Mas e Braga, M., Fraser, N., Cowton, T., and Inall, M.: Efficient simulation of glacial fjord dynamics using a new reduced physics model (FjordRPM), EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-9654, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-9654, 2025.

Greenland fjords connect and modulate exchanges between its outlet glaciers and the open ocean. Subglacial meltwater and icebergs discharged from the ice sheet cause convection and mixing inside the fjord, upwelling warmer waters from depth and cooling down the upper layers. As a result of these processes, the water temperatures that effectively melt outlet-glacier termini are different than what is observed close to the fjord mouths and on the continental shelf. Data coverage to study such processes, however, is limited in both space and time, and a Greenland-wide assessment of fjord behaviour using general circulation models is computationally prohibitive. To tackle these issues, we use the Fjord Reduced-Physics Model (FjordRPM) to simulate 37 fjords around Greenland forced by available observations between 2016 and 2020. Its low computational cost enables large-ensemble analyses (i.e., 27000 simulations in total for this study) to explore the effects of icebergs, exchanges between the fjord and the continental shelf, and meltwater plumes.

We show that, while fjords cool down at the surface under increased icebergs, the effect of fjord-shelf exchanges and the meltwater plume are less straightforward. The depth where the plume reaches neutral buoyancy will determine which water masses are mixed, which might either warm or cool the fjord. The intensity of exchanges between the fjord and the shelf will affect the fjord stratification, therefore affecting the plume’s role in mixing water masses and homogenising the water column. Finally, we match our simulations to available observations to find the best-fitting model parameters, and highlight that, although there is a high variability in the best-fit model parameters between fjords and between years for a given fjord, values for the model parameters tested follow known statistical distributions, which can be used to refine prescribed model-parameter ranges. Although fjord systems are highly complex and the effects of different processes are not linear, a reduced-physics model can elucidate how fjords modulate ice-sheet-ocean exchanges at a Greenland-wide scale, provided observations are available to force the model.

How to cite: Mas e Braga, M., Cowton, T., Slater, D., Inall, M., Johnstone, E., and Fraser, N.: Drivers of glacial fjord-shelf temperature differences in the reduced-physics model FjordRPM, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-3758, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-3758, 2025.

Iceberg calving is a complex process often followed by the capsize of the newborn iceberg because of the torque created by the buoyancy and gravity forces. In the case of kilometer-scale icebergs, calving/capsize events can trigger seismic waves (glacial earthquakes) recorded hundreds of kilometers away by global seismic networks. These recordings contain information on the seismic source such as the calved-iceberg volume as well as the contact force applied by the iceberg on the glacier, the glacier dynamical response but also water waves and flow following the capsize.

To obtain an accurate estimation of the iceberg volume, it is necessary to couple seismic inversion of glacial earthquakes with numerical modeling of the capsize [Sergeant 2019]. Therefore, based on our previous work, we use a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model to simulate the fluid-structure interaction between the ocean and an iceberg capsizing against a glacier terminus. The model reproduces with great accuracy lab experiments (rotation kinematics, effect of calving type, hydrodynamic pressure, etc).

In this talk, we will focus on field-scale simulations. We will show that the forces applied on the glacier terminus due to the hydrodynamic pressure and to the iceberg-glacier contact appear to have similar amplitudes, are of opposite signs, and depend on the iceberg geometry. We also give a first estimation of the glacier deformation under the action of these forces. Our CFD simulations make it possible to compute the water velocity field in which values exceed 10 m/s close to the 200-meters-high-iceberg capsize.

Sergeant, A. et al. (2019) ‘Monitoring Greenland ice sheet buoyancy-driven calving discharge using glacial earthquakes’, Annals of Glaciology, 60(79), pp. 75–95. doi:10.1017/aog.2019.7.

How to cite: De Pinho Dias, N., C. Burton, J., Leroyer, A., Mangeney, A., and Castelnau, O.: On the forces at play during kilometer-scale iceberg calving: insight from numerical simulations, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-6688, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-6688, 2025.