The viscoplastic behaviour of ice in polar ice sheets: experimental results and modelling

The slow motion of polar ice sheets is governed by the viscous deformation of anisotropic ices. Physical mechanisms controlling the deformation of ice crystal and polycrystal are reviewed. For the low stress conditions prevailing in ice sheets, the stress exponent of the flow law is lower than 2 and the deformation is dominated by the glide of dislocations on the basal plane. The mismatch of slip at grain boundaries induces large strain inhomogeneities partially relieved in ice sheets by grain growth and recrystallisation. The hard X-ray diffraction technique can be used to describe the orientation gradients within grains. The structure of ice along deep ice cores in Antarctica and Greenland exhibits significant changes in the shape, size and orientation of grains. A large variation of ice viscosity with depth is therefore expected. Polycrystal deformation models accounting for the changing rheological properties of polar ice are discussed. These models must predict and take into account the intracrystalline field heterogeneity.