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Seabed gouging by ice, also known as ice scouring, is a common feature of the Arctic and sub Arctic regions of the planet as well as in Antarctica. It is a phenomenon which occurs when ice moves while in contact with the seabed. Ice gouging is of economical significance due to the probability of disruption of seabed structures such as subsea pipelines. Small scale laboratory tests were conducted at 1g to investigate the scour force produced when a scaled iceberg model scours a test bed in dry and saturated conditions. The tests were conducted for a range of scour depths, scour widths, frontal rake angles and soil conditions to study the performance of a rigid indenter (iceberg keel) scouring a test bed. Furthermore, the tests were also conducted at various speeds to study the rate effect in sand. The effect of the drifting speed on the drag force was found to be important: a sandy seabed scoured by an iceberg with a mean drifting speed of 0.1 m/s can generate scour loads twice as large as the static loads. The methods used currently to predict ice scour loads consider only the static loads under drained conditions and these should be revised. The PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry) technique was utilized to study the sub-gouge deformation and the soil failure mechanism associated with ice gouging. The soil resistance and the sub gouge deformation results obtained in the laboratory were compared with centrifuge investigations (the PRISE and PIRAM programs) in order to examine the viability of extrapolating the results from the model scale to a prototype scale.

Historical interest in regards to icebergs have ranged from their ability to provide a freshwater source to the destructive forces they are able to impose on maritime structures. As well, recent studies have focused on the possible influences icebergs may have on the climate system. Initial investigations of the advective and deteriorative patterns of iceberg armadas under normal ablative conditions suggest that they are sensitive to their initial size distributions (Silva et al., 2006). This work extends these initial examinations further. The sensitivity of the ice and meltwater patterns to a range of initial iceberg size distributions for a collapse of the Ronne-Filchner ice shelf is investigated. A numerical iceberg model is developed, which simulates the drift and melting of iceberg populations specified in selected size categories. The model treats the population of icebergs as a continuum rather than focusing on the trajectories of individual icebergs. Oceanic and atmospheric forcing fields are provided by the University of Victoria Earth System Climate Model (UVic ESCM) and the National Centers for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) 40-year reanalysis project (Kalnay et al., 1996), respectively. Meltwater from large icebergs (with a total height of approximately 1180 m) originating from the Ronne-Filchner ice shelf reaches as far north as 58 S, compared to 63 S for small icebergs (with a total height of approximately 10 m). Also, the equivalent volume of small icebergs melts away completely within the first five years, as compared to 50 years for the large icebergs. Therefore, populations containing greater amounts of small icebergs are found to lead to a larger freshwater flux, as well as accumulate meltwater closer to the original location of the Ronne-Filchner ice shelf. These findings are important when examining the potential effect of ice shelf collapse on deep and intermediate water formation rates and associated climate feedbacks.

Abstract Numerous efforts have been made in recent decades to recover the climate history of the Arctic region. The present PhD study is one of them, focusing on terrestrial sediments which were deposited in the Arctic Ocean during the Cenozoic. The Arctic Ocean, surrounded by land on all sides, is among the most important marine archives of sediments that record information of palaeoclimates, including cold climates with extensive glaciation. Evidence of ancient glaciations is generally retraced by observing widespread terrestrial ice-rafted debris (IRD) deposits on the seafloor, as large amounts of IRD are transported by icebergs during deglacial phases. However, it has been shown that sea ice also transports abundant IRD from shallow continental shelves. What is worth noticing is that glaciers and sea ice influence climate variables differently, and therefore, to model climate in past glaciations, IRD released from these factors should be differentiated. The relative proportions of glacial IRD and non-glacial IRD were determined in this study from two central Arctic Ocean expedition site recoveries: the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program’s (IODP) Arctic Coring Expedition (ACEX) 302 composite core recovery and the Swedish Polar Research Expedition’s Arctic Ocean 1996 (AO96) piston core 96/12-1pc. The main objective was to characterise and quantify the process- and environment-related microtextures of quartz sand grain surfaces. The data were subjected to statistical methods and a multiproxy approach, and the results were used to define the dynamics and timing of palaeoglaciations. The results indicate that the signals of glacial and non-glacial continental processes and the involvement of iceberg versus sea-ice rafting can be distinguished by microtextural and statistical analyses. Improvements in the general interpretation of late Pleistocene Eurasian ice sheet distribution and dynamics are provided: late MIS 4 (ca. 62–67 ka) reflects a deglacial phase with increased fluvial activity, whereas MIS 3 at ca. 45 ka is related to glacial advance characterised by the oscillating and calving Barents-Kara ice sheet. Based on the results of this study, the early glacial ice on the Arctic continent can be retraced back to the late Palaeocene ca. 56 Ma. / Tiivistelmä Arktisen alueen ilmastohistoriaa on pyritty selvittämään usein eri tavoin viime vuosikymmenten aikana. Tässä tutkimuksessa on keskitytty Jäämereen kerrostuneiden mantereelta peräisin olevien sedimenttien ominaisuuksiin. Jäämeri on yksi tärkeimmistä mannerten ympäröimistä merialueista jonka pohjan sedimentteihin on tallentunut tietoa menneistä ilmasto-oloista, kuten laajoista jäätiköitymisistä. Jään kuljettaman sedimenttiaineksen runsas esiintyminen merenpohjan kerrostumissa on yleisesti tulkittu todisteeksi menneistä jäätiköitymisistä, sillä jäävuorikuljetus on runsainta mannerjäätikön sulamisvaiheessa. Myös merijää voi kuljettaa runsaasti sedimenttiainesta joka on peräisin matalalta mannerjalustavyöhykkeeltä. Jäätiköiden ja merijään vaikutus ilmastomuuttujiin on hyvin erilainen ja siksi on tärkeää selvittää niiden osallisuus eri ilmastovaiheissa. Tässä tutkimuksessa määritettiin jäävuorien ja merijään kuljettaman sedimenttiaineksen suhteelliset osuudet kahdesta keskeisen Jäämeren tutkimusmatkan kaira-aineistosta: Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) -ohjelman Arctic Coring Expedition 302 (ACEX) -tutkimusmatkan yhdistetystä kaira-aineistosta ja Swedish Polar Research Expedition Arctic Ocean 1996 (AO96) -tutkimusmatkan kaira-aineistosta 96/12-1pc. Tärkein tavoite oli kuvata ja laskennallisesti määrittää kvartsihiekkarakeiden pintamikrotekstuurit, jotka ovat syntyneet erilaisissa prosesseissa ja ympäristöissä. Aineistoa tarkasteltiin tilastollisin- ja moniaineistomenetelmin, ja tuloksia käytettiin jäätiköiden dynamiikan ja ajoituksen määrittämiseen. Tämän tutkimuksen johtopäätöksenä voidaan todeta että jäätikköön ja ei-jäätikköön liittyvät mantereiset prosessesit, sekä jäävuori- ja merijääkuljetuksen osallisuus, voidaan erottaa mikrotekstuuri- ja tilastollisen analyysin avulla. Tutkimus tarkentaa tulkintoja myöhäis-Pleistoseenin jäätiköiden alueellisesta levinneisyydestä ja dynamiikasta: myöhäinen MIS 4 (noin 62–67 ka) oli deglasiaalivaihetta jolloin fluviaalitoiminta oli aktiivista, kun taas MIS 3 noin 45 ka liittyy jäätiköitymisvaiheeseen jolloin Barentsin-Karan jääkenttä oskilloi ja jäävuorikuljetus oli runsasta. Tutkimuksen tuloksena voidaan myös tarkentaa varhaisten Arktisten jäätiköitymisten ajankohta myöhäiseen Paleoseeniin noin 56 Ma.

The evaluation of design iceberg impact loads for offshore structures and the influence of hydrodynamic effects on impact loads are examined. Important hydrodynamic effects include iceberg added mass, wave-induced oscillatory iceberg motions, and the influence of a large structure on the surrounding flow field and subsequent velocities of approaching icebergs. The significance of these phenomena has been investigated using a two-body numerical diffraction model and through a series of experiments modelling the drift of various sized icebergs driven by waves and currents approaching a large offshore structure. Relevant findings from the hydrodynamic studies have been incorporated into two probabilistic models which can be used to determine design iceberg collision events with a structure based on either iceberg kinetic energy upon impact or global sliding force acting on the structure. Load exceedence probabilities from the kinetic energy and sliding force models are evaluated using the second-order reliability method. Output from the probabilistic models can be used to determine design collision parameters and to assess whether more sophisticated modelling of various impact processes is required. The influence of the structure on velocities of approaching icebergs is shown to be significant when the structure horizontal dimension is greater than twice the iceberg dimension. As expected, wave-induced oscillatory motions dominate the collision velocity for smaller icebergs but have a negligible effect on velocity for larger icebergs. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Civil Engineering, Department of / Graduate

Most of the glacier-caused sea level rise to date has been sourced from melt and icebergs from marine-terminating glaciers. Marine-terminating glaciers drain nearly all the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets and many polar ice caps, ice fields, and mountain glaciers. However, we previously did not know how much solid mass, or frontal ablation, was lost by these glaciers, a key component of glacier mass balance. This thesis quantifies the area change and mass loss of marine-terminating glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere from 2000 to 2020 by quantifying glacier retreat, advance, and frontal ablation. In total, the 1704 marine-terminating glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere lost an average of 389.7 ± 1.6 km² a⁻¹ of their terminus from 2000 to 2020, for a total of 7527 ± 31 km², with 123 glaciers ceasing to be marine-terminating over this period. Overall, 85.3% of glaciers retreated, 2.5% advanced, and the remaining 12.3% did not change outside of uncertainty limits. Frontal ablation of marine-terminating glaciers, not including the Greenland Ice Sheet, contributed an average of 44.47 ± 6.23 Gt a⁻¹ of ice to the ocean from 2000 to 2010, and 51.98 ± 4.62 Gt a⁻¹ from 2010 to 2020. Ice discharge from 2000 to 2020 was equivalent to 2.10 ± 0.22 mm of sea-level rise and comprised approximately 79% of frontal ablation, with the remainder from terminus retreat. In Greenland, frontal ablation totaled 522.00 ± 17.38 Gt a⁻¹ for 2000-2010 and 559.05 ± 12.59 Gt a⁻¹ for 2010-2020. Ice discharge comprised ~90% of frontal ablation during both periods, while volume loss due to terminus retreat comprised the remainder. In total, Greenland accounted for 90% of northern hemisphere frontal ablation from 2000 to 2020. When combined with climatic-basal mass balance estimates this allows for the first estimate of complete Northern Hemisphere glacier mass budgets, which shows that Arctic Russia, Greenland, and Svalbard have positive climatic-basal balances. For the first time, this thesis provides complete frontal ablation estimates for the entire Northern Hemisphere of 522.0 ± 17.4 Gt a⁻¹ for 2000-2010 and 559.1 ± 12.6 Gt a⁻¹ for 2010-2020.

Abstract In this Ph.D. thesis sediment cores from the central Arctic Ocean, southwestern Barents Sea and sediment exposures from the Kola Peninsula were investigated in order to reveal interactions between the late middle Pleistocene and late Pleistocene Arctic ice sheets, between Marine Isotope Stages 6 and 1 (MIS 6 and MIS 1). One of the main objectives of this work is to establish provenance areas for the sediments studied in the central Arctic, the southwestern (SW) Barents Sea and the Kola Peninsula, their transport mechanisms and through that their relationship to glaciations in the Arctic and to development in the Kola Peninsula during the late middle and late Pleistocene. Mineralogical and geochemical data from the core 96/12-1pc on the Lomonosov Ridge, central Arctic Ocean was studied to evaluate ice transport from circum-Arctic ice sheets and variability in sediment drainage systems associated with their decay. SW Barents Sea sediments contain important information on Late Glacial and Holocene sediment provenance characteristics in relation to ice flow patterns and ice rafting from different regional sectors. The studied SW Barents Sea sediment cores show that sediments were most likely derived from a combination of far-field Fennoscandian sources, local subcropping Mesozoic strata below the seafloor and sea ice transport. The investigation carried out on the Kola Peninsula indicates that the Eemian (MIS 5e) marine environment in the White Sea Basin and onshore coastal areas gradually changed into a glaciolacustrine environment during MIS 5d to MIS 5a. Subsequently, the Scandinavian Ice Sheet (SIS) covered the Kola Peninsula, most probably during MIS 4. The final deglaciation of the SIS on the Kola Peninsula took place, however, during the late Weichselian (MIS 2) between 16–12 ka. / Tiivistelmä Tässä väitöstutkimuksessa tutkittiin sedimenttikairanäytteitä keskeiseltä Jäämereltä ja Lounais-Barentsinmereltä sekä tarkasteltiin sedimenttiseurantoja Kuolan niemimaalla tarkoituksena selvittää myöhäisen keskipleistoseeni- ja myöhäispleistoseeniajan Arktisten jääkenttien keskinäiset vuorovaikutukset erityisesti merellisten isotooppivaiheiden 6 ja 1 (MIS 6 ja MIS 1) välillä. Tämän työn yhtenä päätavoitteena on määritellä sedimenttien lähdealueet keskeisellä Arktiksella, lounaisella Barentsinmerellä ja Kuolan niemimaalla, sedimenttien kuljetusmekanismit ja näiden perusteella riippuvuudet Arktisiin jäätiköihin ja Kuolan niemimaalla tapahtuneeseen myöhäiskeski- ja myöhäispleistoseenin kehitykseen. Mineraloginen ja geokemiallinen tieto Lomonosovin harjanteen kairauksesta 96/12-1pc, keskeisellä Jäämerellä on perusta arvioitaessa jääkuljetusmekanismeja ympäröiviltä sirkum-Arktisilta jäätiköiltä ja arvioitaessa valuma-alueiden osuutta suhteessa näiden jäätiköiden häviämiseen. Lounaisen Barentsinmeren sedimentit sisältävät tärkeätä tietoja viimeisen jäätiköitymisen loppuvaiheen ja holoseeni-ajan sedimenttien lähdealueista ja suhteista jäävirtauksiin ja jääkuljetukseen eri aluesektoreilta. Tutkitut Lounais-Barentsinmeren sedimentit osoittavat, että sedimentit olivat todennäköisimmin peräisin suhteellisen kaukaisilta Fennoscandian lähdealueilta, paikallisista mesotsoosista merenpohjan kerrostumista ja merijään kuljettamasta materiaalista. Kuolan niemimaalla tehty tutkimus osoittaa, että Eem-kauden (MIS 5e) meriympäristö Vienanmeren altaassa ja rannikkoalueilla vähitellen muuttui glaciolakustriseksi ympäristöksi MIS 5d:n ja MIS 5a:n välisenä aikana. Sen jälkeen Skandinavian jääkenttä (SIS) peitti Kuolan niemimaan, todennäköisimmin koko MIS:n 4 ajanjakson. SIS:n lopullinen deglasiaatio alkoi Kuolan niemimaalla kuitenkin myöhäisen Veiksel-jääkauden (MIS 2) aikana noin 16–12 ka sitten.