Theoretical studies on densification and relaxation of bubby glacier ice

Abstract

This paper presents a brief review of the authors' earlier research on polar ice density modeling carried out and published (in the main) during 1983-1989 in Russia. A theoretical approach to macrocontinuum description of bubbly ice densification (expansion) on the basis of averaging asymptotic methods is considered. Mathematical models for the simulation of polar ice sheet density variations versus depth and for the prediction of deep ice core volume relaxation after its recovery are developed and tested on real situations at Vostok Station, East Antarctica. A simplified model of the equilibrium transformation of bubbles entrapped in ice into air hydrate crystals is proposed.