Interaction of marine ice-sheet instabilities in two drainage basins: simple scaling of geometry and transition time

Published: Apr 1, 2015 by The PISM Authors

The marine ice-sheet instability generally comes from the ocean side of the ice sheet. Using a flow-line geometry in PISM, this paper investigates whether instability can be triggered from the direction of the ice divide. The authors find that the instability in one basin can induce a destabilization in the other. The underlying mechanism is dynamic thinning and consequent motion of the ice divide. They conclude that for the three-dimensional case, the possibility of drainage basin interaction on timescales on the order of 1 kyr or larger cannot be excluded and needs further investigation.