Description: We performed numerical simulations on the microdynamics of ice with air inclusions as a second phase. Our aim was to investigate the rheological effects of air inclusions and explain the onset of dynamic recrystallization in the permeable firn. The simulations employ a full-field theory crystal plasticity code coupled to codes simulating dynamic recrystallization processes and predict time-resolved microstructure evolution in terms of lattice orientations, strain distribution, grain sizes and grain-boundary network. Results show heterogeneous deformation throughout the simulations and indicate the importance of strain localization controlled by air inclusions. This strain localization gives rise to locally increased energies that drive dynamic recrystallization and induce heterogeneous microstructures that are coherent with natural firn microstructures from EPICA Dronning Maud Land ice coring site in Antarctica. We conclude that although overall strains and stresses in firn are low, strain localization associated with locally increased strain energies can explain the occurrence of dynamic recrystallization.

Description: The surface mass balance (SMB) of the Larsen C ice shelf (LCIS), Antarctica, is poorly constrained due to a dearth of in situ observations. Combining several geophysical techniques, we reconstruct spatial and temporal patterns of SMB over the LCIS. Continuous time series of snow height (2.5–6 years) at five locations allow for multi-year estimates of seasonal and annual SMB over the LCIS. There is high interannual variability in SMB as well as spatial variability: in the north, SMB is 0.40+/-0.06 to 0.41+/-0.04mw.e. per year, while farther south, SMB is up to 0.50+/-0.05mw.e. per year. This difference between north and south is corroborated by winter snow accumulation derived from an airborne radar survey from 2009, which showed an average snow thickness of 0.34mw.e. north of 66° S, and 0.40mw.e. south of 68° S. Analysis of ground-penetrating radar from several field campaigns allows for a longer-term perspective of spatial variations in SMB: a particularly strong and coherent reflection horizon below 25–44m of waterequivalent ice and firn is observed in radargrams collected across the shelf. We propose that this horizon was formed synchronously across the ice shelf. Combining snow height observations, ground and airborne radar, and SMB output from a regional climate model yields a gridded estimate of SMB over the LCIS. It confirms that SMB increases from north to south, overprinted by a gradient of increasing SMB to the west, modulated in the west by föhn-induced sublimation. Previous observations show a strong decrease in firn air content toward the west, which we attribute to spatial patterns of melt, refreezing, and densification rather than SMB.

Description: In times of warming in polar regions, the prediction of ice sheet discharge is of utmost importance to society, because of its impact on sea level rise. In simulations the flow rate of ice is usually implemented as proportional to the differential stress to the power of the exponent n=3. This exponent influences the softness of the modeled ice, as higher values would produce faster flow under equal stress. We show that the stress exponent, which best fits the observed state of the Greenland Ice Sheet, equals n=4. Our results, which are not dependent on a possible basal sliding component of flow, indicate that most of the interior northern ice sheet is currently frozen to bedrock, except for the large ice streams and marginal ice. Ice in the polar ice sheets flows towards the oceans under its own weight. Knowing how fast the ice flows is of crucial importance to predict future sea level rise. The flow has two components: (1) internal shearing flow of ice and (2) basal motion, which is sliding along the base of ice sheets, especially when the ice melts at this base. To determine the first component we need to know how "soft" the ice is. By considering the flow velocities at the surface of the northern Greenland Ice Sheet and calculating the stresses that cause the flow, we determined that the ice is effectively softer than is usually assumed. Previous studies indicated that the base of the ice is thawed in large parts (up to about 50%) of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Our study shows that that is probably overestimated, because these studies assumed ice to be harder than it actually is. Our new assessment reduces the area with basal motion and thus melting to about 6-13% in the Greenland study area.

Description: Disturbances on the centimetre scale in the stratigraphy of the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) ice core (North Greenland) can be mapped by an optical line scanner as long as the ice has visual layering, such as, for example, cloudy bands. Different focal depths allow, to a certain extent, a three-dimensional view of the structures. In this study we present a detailed analysis of the visible folds, discuss their characteristics and frequency, and present examples of typical fold structures. We also analyse the structures with regard to the deformation boundary conditions under which they formed. The structures evolve from gentle waves at about 1500 m to overturned z folds with increasing depth. Occasionally, the folding causes significant thickening of layers. Their similar fold shape indicates that they are passive features and are probably not initiated by rheology differences between alternating layers. Layering is heavily disturbed and tracing of single layers is no longer possible below a depth of 2160 m. C axes orientation distributions for the corresponding core sections were analysed, where available, in addition to visual stratigraphy. The data show axial-plane parallel strings of grains with c axis orientations that deviate from that of the matrix, which shows a single maximum fabric at the depth where the folding occurs. Numerical modelling of crystal viscoplastic deformation and dynamic recrystallisation was used to improve the understanding of the formation of the observed structures during deformation. The modelling reproduces the development of bands of grains with a tilted-lattice orientation relative to the single maximum fabric of the matrix, and also the associated local deformation. We conclude from these results that the observed folding can be explained by formation of these tilted-lattice bands.

Description: An established rift in the Larsen C Ice Shelf, formerly constrained by a suture zone containing marine ice, grew rapidly during 2014 and is likely in the near future to generate the largest calving event since the 1980s and result in a new minimum area for the ice shelf. Here we investigate the recent development of the rift, quantify the projected calving event and, using a numerical model, assess its likely impact on ice shelf stability. We find that the ice front is at risk of becoming unstable when the anticipated calving event occurs.

Description: Impurities control a variety of physical properties of polar ice. Their impact can be observed at all scales – from the microstructure (e.g., grain size and orientation) to the ice sheet flow behavior (e.g., borehole tilting and closure). Most impurities in ice form micrometer-sized inclusions. It has been suggested that these μ inclusions control the grain size of polycrystalline ice by pinning of grain boundaries (Zener pinning), which should be reflected in their distribution with respect to the grain boundary network. We used an optical microscope to generate high-resolution large-scale maps (3 μm pix^-1, 8 x 2 cm^2) of the distribution of micro-inclusions in four polar ice samples: two from Antarctica (EDML, MIS 5.5) and two from Greenland (NEEM, Holocene). The in situ positions of more than 5000 μ inclusions have been determined. A Raman microscope was used to confirm the extrinsic nature of a sample proportion of the mapped inclusions. A superposition of the 2-D grain boundary network and μ-inclusion distributions shows no significant correlations between grain boundaries and μ inclusions. In particular, no signs of grain boundaries harvesting μ inclusions could be found and no evidence of μ inclusions inhibiting grain boundary migration by slow-mode pinning could be detected. Consequences for our understanding of the impurity effect on ice microstructure and rheology are discussed.

Description: The pollution input in polar ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica is of atmospheric aeolian origin, just as all natural non-ice impurities as well. They thus provide potential information on the evolution of the atmospheric share of pollutants in the ocean. Aerosols found in ice are transported with atmospheric circulation and wind patterns and are deposited e.g. with precipitating snow. The impurity content in this so-called meteoric ice is relatively low compared to many other natural materials such as rocks (ppb to ppm range). The reason is that most aerosols in the atmosphere have been removed by fall-out or precipitation during transport from the impurities’ sources to the remote ice sheet. Non-ice constituents in polar ice cores have been studied in the last decades mainly for reconstructions of past atmospheric aerosol concentrations, with respect to questions conceding the global climate change. The fastest and easiest analytical way is chemical analysis of the melted water from ice cores. However despite the tiny concentrations, the interactions with and effects of impurities in the solid ice influence the physical properties of the material as a whole: e.g. electric as well as dielectric response and, in particular, mechanical behaviour thus “softness” of the material seems to be strongly controlled by impurities. Smaller concentrations of impurities (up to a few ‰) do soften the material as a whole, while larger concentrations of particles harden it, depending on the type of impurities of course. The underlying processes are partly hypothesised for decades, but not yet proven or understood satisfactorily as the quest for ppb to ppm concentrations in solid matrix material is a search for a “needle in a haystack”. To improve the data basis regarding the in-situ form of incorporation and spatial distribution of impurities in ice we used micro-cryo-Raman spectroscopy to identify the location, phase and composition of micrometer-sized inclusions in natural ice samples (NEEM ice core from Greenland and EPICA-DML ice core from Antarctica). The combination of Raman results with ice-microsctructure measurements and complementary impurity data provided by the standard analytical methods (IC, CFA, and DEP) allows for a more interdisciplinary approach interconnecting ice core chemistry and ice core physics. While the samples originating from interglacial times were dominated by sulfate salts—mainly gypsum, sodium sulfate (possibly thenardite) and iron–potassium sulfate (likely jarosite)—the glacial ice contained high numbers of mineral dust particles—in particular quartz, mica, feldspar, anatase, hematite and carbonaceous particles (black carbon). We cannot confirm cumulation of impurities in the grain boundary network as reported by other studies, neither micro-particles being dragged by migrating grain boundaries nor in form of liquid veins in triple junctions. We argue that mixing of impurities on the millimeter scale and chemical reactions are facilitated by the deforming ice matrix. Refs.: doi: 10.5194/tc-11-1075-2017 doi: 10.3389/feart.2019.00020 https://www.humboldt-foundation.de/web/trilateral-jagfos-2019.html http://www.nasonline.org/programs/kavli-frontiers-of-science/past-symposia/2019-jagfos.html Invited poster.

Description: The Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) is the largest active ice stream on the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and a crucial contributor to the ice-sheet mass balance. To investigate the ice-stream dynamics and to gain information about the past climate, a deep ice core is drilled in the upstream part of the NEGIS, termed the East Greenland Ice-core Project (EastGRIP). Upstream flow can introduce climatic bias into ice cores through the advection of ice deposited under different conditions further upstream. This is particularly true for EastGRIP due to its location inside an ice stream on the eastern flank of the GrIS. Understanding and ultimately correcting for such effects requires information on the atmospheric conditions at the time and location of snow deposition. We use a two-dimensional Dansgaard–Johnsen model to simulate ice flow along three approximated flow lines between the summit of the ice sheet (GRIP) and EastGRIP. Isochrones are traced in radio-echo-sounding images along these flow lines and dated with the GRIP and EastGRIP ice-core chronologies. The observed depth–age relationship constrains the Monte Carlo method which is used to determine unknown model parameters. We calculate backward-in-time particle trajectories to determine the source location of ice found in the EastGRIP ice core and present estimates of surface elevation and past accumulation rates at the deposition site. Our results indicate that increased snow accumulation with increasing upstream distance is predominantly responsible for the constant annual layer thicknesses observed in the upper part of the ice column at EastGRIP, and the inverted model parameters suggest that basal melting and sliding are important factors determining ice flow in the NEGIS. The results of this study form a basis for applying upstream corrections to a variety of ice-core measurements, and the inverted model parameters are useful constraints for more sophisticated modelling approaches in the future.