Advection of Heat (Cryosphere)

Advection of heat in the cryosphere is the transport of ocean thermal energy by currents to the base of floating ice, where it drives submarine melt of ice shelves and marine-terminating glaciers. Warm, salty water at depth, such as Circumpolar Deep Water near West Antarctica, is carried beneath shelf cavities and across the grounding line, melting ice from below at rates that can exceed surface ablation. The melt rate scales with the ocean thermal forcing, the difference between the in-situ temperature and the local freezing point, and with the strength of the buoyant subglacial-discharge plume. This bottom melt thins shelves, weakens buttressing, and accelerates upstream ice flow.