The impact of submesoscale ocean eddies on the basal melting of ice shelves using high-resolution simulations

The ocean-driven melting of ice shelves is a key impact on ice shelf mass loss and on the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet. However, knowledge is incomplete on the impact of ocean processes on the basal melting of ice shelves, in particular the effects of submesoscale processes. Inspired by recent observations of an eddy beneath an ice tongue (Hancock et al., 2025), we investigate a series of simulations to better understand the effect of eddies on the localised melting of ice shelves. Here, we examine submesoscale eddies beneath an ice shelf using large-eddy simulations that resolve all but the smallest scales of turbulence. In order to resolve the thin mm-scale layers immediately below the ice, the domain size is limited and the eddies are scaled down to be metres in size. The dynamical regime in which these simulations operate is relevant for the ocean application, hence we can relate our simulations to observations and results from large-scale ocean models. We initialise our simulations with a salinity front beneath an ice shelf, with different chosen temperature profiles to match cold and warm ice shelf cavities. Once the simulations are initiated, the front breaks into submesoscale eddies. Our results show that anticyclonic eddies enhance the ice melting by upwelling warm underlying waters. In contrast, cyclonic eddies moderate the melting by downwelling cool meltwater. Our simulated results compare favourably with the existing observations and the application to other ocean regions is also discussed.