Structure and Properties of Ice Plates

Abstract

In order to make any problem tractable, the applied mathematician must make some assumptions about nature. It is an aim of this chapter to introduce the reader to the physical and mechanical properties of ice sheets, so that they may judge for themselves the validity of the assumptions made throughout the remainder of the book. We shall begin with an outline of the atomic structure of ice in Section 2.2. Sea ice occupies up to 15% of the earth’s surface in the months of January and February, and because of this enormous areal extent its growth and physical properties must be reviewed. This is done in Section 2.3. With some notable exceptions, lake and river ice formation is largely based on the same principles as sea ice and may be regarded as a special case in the limit of very low salinity. We add features peculiar to freshwater ice in Section 2.4. In Section 2.5 we describe the mechanical behaviour of freshwater ice and sea ice pertinent to the subject matter of the remainder of the book. We treat all ice sheets without regard to their geographical location.