Plane and Radial Ice-Shelf Flow with Prescribed Temperature Profile

The longitudinal velocity and thickness of an ice shelf in steady plane flow, when temperature is prescribed as a function of the spatial coordinates, are determined by simultaneous integro-differential equations. These are solved numerically to illustrate the effects of temperature distribution, depth and ice flux at the grounding line, and surface accumulation.The corresponding integro-differential equations for axi-symmetric flow are derived, which involves a strain rate transverse to the radial direction and hence non-planar spreading. Numerical solutions for a grounding line at a mean Antarctic radius and a range of ice-flux values are presented. Comparisons with corresponding plane-flow solutions indicate that radial spreading has little influence.