Boundary layer profiles during melting of the sloping ice shelves

Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) was used to study the effect of sloping the ice-shelves on the dissolution/melt rate at the ice-ocean interface. The simulations were done on the HPC Raijin at NCI, Canberra over March 2015 to June 2017. Numerical experiments were carried out over a range of slope angle (5 degrees – 90 degrees) of the ice-shelves measured from the horizon. Turbulent flow field is simulated over the domain length of 1.8 m, (for slope angle greater than or equal to 50 degrees) and 20 m (for slope angle less than or equal to 20 degrees) respectively; the flow-field is laminar otherwise. A constant ambient temperature 2.3 degrees C and salinity 35 psu is maintained throughout the simulations.The DNS successfully resolved all possible turbulence length scales and relative contributions of diffusive and turbulent heat transfer into the ice wall is measured.Data available:Excel file Profile_salinity_temperature_velocity.xlsx contains along-slope velocity, temperature and salinity as a function of wall normal distance for slope angle 50 degrees, 65 degrees and 90 degrees respectively for the domain length 1.8 m.