Author(s): Sveinung Loset

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Keywords: No Keywords

Abstract: The top surface of an iceberg at sea is exposed to heat exchange caused by shortwave and longwave radiation, convection heat transfer, sublimation/condensation and melting or freezing. This paper considers the various terms, ranks their relative importance and discusses the effect on ablation and temperature gradients at the air exposed surface of the iceberg. This is demonstrated by running a two-dimensional numerical model which simulates the boundary conditions and computes the temperature distribution and ablation of an iceberg observed near the landfast ice of Hopen in the Barents Sea. The computa­tions demonstrate the minor role heat exchange of the air exposed part of the iceberg has on the deterioration and thereby expected life time of an iceberg at these latitudes.

DOI:

Year: 1992