Calving of large tabular icebergs from ice shelf rift systems

We used Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar to study the detachment process that allowed two large icebergs to calve from the Ross Ice Shelf, Antarctica. Time series of rift geometries indicate that rift widths increased steadily, whereas rift lengths increased episodically through several discrete rift-tip propagation events. We also conducted modeling experiments constrained by the observed rift geometry. Both the observations and model suggest that rift opening, and, thus, tabular-iceberg calving, are largely driven by "glaciological" stresses - stress introduced by the effect of gravity on the ice shelf - rather than by stress introduced by the ocean and atmosphere, e. g., tides and storms. This style of rift propagation is expected to determine the steady, background calving rate of ice shelves and, thus, differs significantly from styles that led to the recent disintegration of ice shelves in response to climate warming, e.g., the Larsen B Ice Shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula.