Testing and Analysis of a Simple Parameterization of Iceberg Calving

The aim of our project is to better understand how frontal ablation of glaciers contribute to
sea level rise. As climate change and global warming continue, the associated sea level rise is concerning. Warming temperatures have contributed to glacier thinning and retreat, and iceberg calving and submarine melting are considered to be major drivers of glacier mass loss. The impacts of receding glaciers are not limited to sea level rise, but also affect oceanic properties such as nutrient and sediment cycling, ecosystem functioning, and have significant consequences for coastal communities around the world. The IPCC reports that glacier mass loss has contributed to “65% of the observed global mean sea level rise for 1901–1990 and 90% for 1971–2010” (Church 2013). Although there is interest from researchers and policy makers in understanding the processes that govern glacier retreat and mass loss, nonlinear responses of tidewater glaciers to climate forcings have left these glaciers poorly understood (Catania 2018). Additionally, iceberg calving and submarine melting involve complicated physics such as fracture mechanics and plume dynamics, which make predictions and assumptions about the rate of glacial change difficult to quantify. As global warming persists, eliminating uncertainty around sea level rise projections will help inform our global response to climate change, where iceberg calving, and submarine melting
remain sources of uncertainty.