Ice Shelf Buttressing

Parts of the margins of the Antarctic and (to a lesser extent) Greenland ice sheets are marked by floating ice shelves which are fed by fast‐flowing ice streams from the ice sheet interior. While these ice shelves do not contribute directly to sea level, they play an important role in restraining the flow of ice from the ice sheet. This restraint is often referred to as ice shelf buttressing, and it is potentially of great importance to the stability of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, much of which rests on a bed far below sea level. In certain regions, relatively warm ocean waters gain access to the base of ice shelves leading to thinning, severely limiting the buttressing ability of the shelves. Other ice shelves are vulnerable to rapid collapse due to surface meltwater that deepens crevasses. Both effects could be exacerbated by warming oceans and atmosphere.

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