Effects Of Bed Inclination And Topography On Steady Isothermal Ice Sheets

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Abstract
The small slope magnitude ε. or aspect ratio. of an ice sheet in steady plane motion under gravity user a horizontal plane bed, subject to balancing surface accumulation and ablation. and basal drainage. is determined by the aceunualation magnitude, maximum depth. and the viscous properties of the ice. Horizontal coordinate scaling by a factor ε allows. series expansions in ε for which the leading-order solution is valid ecenschee under some weak restrictions on the ice law and sliding faw. This procedure is now extended to the plane flow problem when the mean bed line is inclined at angle χ to the horizontal and the bed is not flat. The lead order problems for χ of order unity and χ of order t: are distinct. and both are treated, fiir an isothermal sheet. The present analysis is valid only for a maximum bed slope relative to the mean line of order ε or less. The amplitude of it bed profile is ill, wavelength that of’ the ice sheet may therefore be of the same site as the ice sheet depth which allows treatment of a typical isostatic bed shape.

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