Flow Behavior of Basal Ice as Related to Modeling Considerations

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Abstract
Simple shear tests on the bottom 17 m of basal ice from Camp Century, Greenland, were carried out in order to study the flow behavior near the bottom of an ice sheet and its implications for ice-sheet modeling. The ice core was recovered in 1966. Our experimental results show that the basal ice tested, (which contained alternating bands of dirty and clean ice) has the highest strain-rate ever reported for polycrystalline ice under simple shear. The enhancement factors obtained are interpreted in terms of fabric, ageing, and impurity. Horizontal velocity profiles are calculated using data reported previously for Camp Century and Dye 3 stations. Various depth-age relationships are compared with these data. The higher than expected shear strain-rates measured on samples of near-bottom ice from Camp Century may very well exist at other locations. If such high shear strain-rates are more prevalent than presently thought, they could have an important bearing on ages calculated by physical or mathematical models of ice sheets.

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