A Modeling Experiment on the Grounding of an Ice Shelf in the Central Arctic Ocean During MIS 6

High-resolution chirp sonar subbottom profiles from the Lomonosov Ridge in the central Arctic Ocean, acquired from the Swedish icebreaker Oden in 1996, revealed large-scale erosion of the ridge crest down to depths of 1000 m below present sea level [Jakobsson, 1999]. Subsequent acoustic mapping during the SCICEX nuclear submarine expedition in 1999 showed glacial fluting at the deepest eroded areas and subparallel ice scours from 950 m water depth to the shallowest parts of the ridge crest [Polyak et al., 2001]. The directions of the mapped glaciogenic bed-forms and the redeposition of eroded material on the Amerasian side of the ridge indicate ice flow from the Barents-Kara Sea area. Core studies revealed that sediment drape the eroded areas from Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5.5 and, thus, it was proposed that the major erosional event took place during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 6 [Jakobsson et al., 2001]. Glacial geological evidence suggests strongly that the Late Saalian (MIS 6) ice sheet margin reached the shelf break of the Barents-Kara Sea [Svendsen et al. in press] and this gives us two possible ways to explain the ice erosional features on the Lomonosov Ridge. One is the grounding of a floating ice shelf and the other is the scouring from large deep tabular iceberg. Here we apply numerical ice sheet modeling to test the hypothesis that an ice shelf emanating from the Barents/Kara seas grounded across part of the Lomonsov Ridge and caused the extensive erosion down to a depth of around 1000 m below present sea level. A series of model experiments was undertaken in which the ice shelf mass balance (surface accumulation and basal melting) and ice shelf strain rates were adjusted. Grounding of the Lomonosov Ridge was not achieved when the ice shelf strain rate was 0.005 yr-1 (i.e. a free flowing ice shelf). However this model produced two interesting findings. First, with basal melt rates of up to 50 cm yr-1 an ice shelf grew from the St. Anna Trough ice stream across the section of the ridge where there is evidence for grounding. Second, even with ultra low rates of basal melting, the ice shelf thickness was always less than 200 m over the ridge. We conclude that grounding of the Lomonosov Ridge by a free-flowing ice shelf is not possible. When the strain rate was reduced to zero, however, the shelf thickness increased substantially. Such conditions are likely only to have occurred during periods of large-scale glaciation across the Eurasian Arctic such as in the Saalian, and if a substantial stagnant thickened sea ice was present in the ocean, buttressing the shelf flowing from the Barents Sea. Our results are interpreted using new techniques for dynamic 3Dvisualization

The Grounding of an Ice Shelf in the Central Arctic Ocean: A Modeling Experiment

A numerical ice sheet model was used in a first test towards evaluating the hypothesis that, during a period of large-scale glaciation, an ice shelf emanating from the Barents/Kara Seas grounded across parts of the Lomonosov Ridge to a depth of around 1000 m below present sea level (Jakobsson, 1999; Polyak et al., 2001). Despite that we not include complex ice shelf physics or grounding line mechanics in our model and treat the process of marine melting in a simple manner, our experiments are the necessary first steps toward providing a comprehensive reconstruction of the former ice-sheet/ice-shelf system in the Arctic Ocean. A series of model runs was performed where ice shelf mass balance and ice shelf strain per unit time (strain rate) were adjusted. The mass balance and shelf ice strain rate are the key model parameters that govern the flux of ice into the Arctic Ocean. Grounding on the Lomonosov Ridge was not modeled when the ice shelf strain rate was 0.005 year-1 (i.e. a free flowing ice shelf). Even with low rates (\u3c10 cm/year) of basal melting, the ice shelf thickness was always less than 100 m over the central part of the ridge. Our experiment suggests that grounding on the Lomonosov Ridge by a free-flowing ice shelf is not possible. When the strain rate in the shelf ice was reduced to zero, however, the shelf thickness increased substantially. Such conditions are likely only to have occurred during periods of large-scale glaciation if substantial stagnant and thickened sea ice was present in the ocean, buttressing the ice shelf flowing from the Barents Sea. A comprehensive study using a coupled icesheet/ shelf/sea-ice model would build on these preliminary results and have the potential to further constrain the history of circum-Arctic Ocean ice sheets

Low temperature phase diagram and critical behaviour of the four-state chiral clock model

The low temperature behaviour of the four-state chiral clock ($CC_4$) model is reexamined using a systematic low temperature series expansion of the free energy. Previously obtained results for the low temperature phases are corrected and the low temperature phase diagram is derived. In addition, the phase transition from the modulated region to the high temperature paraphase is shown to belong to the universality class of the 3d-XY model.Comment: 17 pages in ioplppt style, 3 figure

Coarsening Dynamics of Crystalline Thin Films

The formation of pyramid-like structures in thin-film growth on substrates with a quadratic symmetry, e.g., {001} surfaces, is shown to exhibit anisotropic scaling as there exist two length scales with different time dependences. Analytical and numerical results indicate that for most realizations coarsening of mounds is described by an exponent n=0.2357. However, depending on material parameters, n may lie between 0 (logarithmic coarsening) and 1/3. In contrast, growth on substrates with triangular symmetries ({111} surfaces) is dominated by a single length scale and an exponent n=1/3.Comment: RevTeX, 4 pages, 3 figure

Numerical modelling and simulation in sheet metal forming

The application of numerical modelling and simulation in manufacturing technologies is looking back over about a 20–30 years history. In recent years, the role of modelling and simulation in engineering and in manufacturing industry has been continuously increasing. It is well known that during manufacturing processes simultaneous the effect of many different parameters can be observed. This is the reason why in former years, detailed analysis of manufacturing processes could have been done only by time-consuming and expensive trial-and-error methods. Due to the recent developments in the methods of modelling and simulation, as well as in computational facilities, modelling and simulation has become an everyday tool in engineering practice. Besides the aforementioned facts, the emerging role of modelling and simulation can also be explained by the growing globalisation and competition of the world market requiring shorter lead times and more cost effective solutions. In spite the enormous development of hardware and software facilities, the exclusive use of numerical modelling still seems to be very time- and cost consuming, and there is still often a high scepticism about the results among industrialists. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to overview the present situation of numerical modelling and simulation in sheet metal forming, mainly from the viewpoint of scientific research and industrial applications

Reconstructing ice-sheet accumulation rates at ridge B, East Antarctica

Understanding how ice sheets responded to past climate change is fundamental to forecasting how they will respond in the future. Numerical models calculating the evolution of ice sheets depend upon accumulation data, which are principally available from ice cores. Here, we calculate past rates of ice accumulation using internal layering. The englacial structure of the East Antarctic ice divide at ridge B is extracted from airborne ice-penetrating radar. The isochronous surfaces are dated at their intersection with the Vostok ice-core site, where the depth–age relationship is known. The dated isochrons are used as input to a one-dimensional ice-flow model to investigate the spatial accumulation distribution. The calculations show that ice-accumulation rates generally increase from Vostok lake towards ridge B. The western flank of the ice divide experiences markedly more accumulation than in the east. Further, ice accumulation increases northwards along the ice divide. The results also show the variability of accumulation in time and space around the ridge B ice divide over the last 124 000 years

Reflections On the Anomalous ANITA Events: The Antarctic Subsurface as a Possible Explanation

The ANITA balloon experiment was designed to detect radio signals initiated by neutrinos and cosmic ray air showers. These signals are typically discriminated by the polarization and phase inversions of the radio signal. The reflected signal from cosmic rays suffer phase inversion compared to a direct tau neutrino event. In this paper we study sub-surface reflection, which can occur without phase inversion, in the context of the two anomalous up-going events reported by ANITA. We find that subsurface layers and firn density inversions may plausibly account for the events, while ice fabric layers and wind ablation crusts could also play a role. This hypothesis can be tested with radar surveying of the Antarctic region in the vicinity of the anomalous ANITA events. Future experiments should not use phase inversion as a sole criterion to discriminate between downgoing and upgoing events, unless the subsurface reflection properties are well understood.Comment: 4+2 pages, 3 figure

Transport Through an Electrostatically Defined Quantum Dot Lattice in a Two-Dimensional Electron Gas

Quantum dot lattices (QDLs) have the potential to allow for the tailoring of optical, magnetic and electronic properties of a user-defined artificial solid. We use a dual gated device structure to controllably tune the potential landscape in a GaAs/AlGaAs two-dimensional electron gas, thereby enabling the formation of a periodic QDL. The current-voltage characteristics, I(V), follow a power law, as expected for a QDL. In addition, a systematic study of the scaling behavior of I(V) allows us to probe the effects of background disorder on transport through the QDL. Our results are particularly important for semiconductor-based QDL architectures which aim to probe collective phenomena.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Sensitivity of the magnetic state of a spin lattice on itinerant electron orbital phase

Spatially extended localized spins can interact via indirect exchange interaction through Friedel oscillations in the Fermi sea. In arrays of localized spins such interaction can lead to a magnetically ordered phase. Without external magnetic field such a phase is well understood via a "two-impurity" Kondo model. Here we employ non-equilibrium transport spectroscopy to investigate the role of the orbital phase of conduction electrons on the magnetic state of a spin lattice. We show experimentally, that even tiniest perpendicular magnetic field can influence the magnitude of the inter-spin magnetic exchange.Comment: To be published in PhysicaE EP2DS proceedin

Stochastic method for in-situ damage analysis

Based on the physics of stochastic processes we present a new approach for structural health monitoring. We show that the new method allows for an in-situ analysis of the elastic features of a mechanical structure even for realistic excitations with correlated noise as it appears in real-world situations. In particular an experimental set-up of undamaged and damaged beam structures was exposed to a noisy excitation under turbulent wind conditions. The method of reconstructing stochastic equations from measured data has been extended to realistic noisy excitations like those given here. In our analysis the deterministic part is separated from the stochastic dynamics of the system and we show that the slope of the deterministic part, which is linked to mechanical features of the material, changes sensitively with increasing damage. The results are more significant than corresponding changes in eigenfrequencies, as commonly used for structural health monitoring.Comment: This paper is accepted by European Physical Journal B on November 2. 2012. 5 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl