Force Budget: II. Application to Two-Dimensional Flow along Byrd Station Strain Network, Antarctica

Abstract

Resistive stresses and velocities at depth are calculated along the Byrd Station Strain Network, Antarctica, using field data. There are found to be large longitudinal variations in basal drag and this result is little affected by errors in the input data or by uncertainties in the constitutive relation for ice. Basal drag varies by a factor of about 2 along the strain network, and is usually equal to the driving stress to within 10–20%. Sites of high drag are not always correlated with basal topographic highs, indicating that some process such as basal water drainage is involved in controlling the friction at the bed. Basal sliding velocities are very sensitive to errors in measured surface velocities and the rate factor in Glen’s flow law. As a result, calculated sliding velocities are much less reliable than deep stresses, and need to be interpreted with caution.