77th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Fluid Dynamics (November 24, 2024 — November 26, 2024)
P2676604: You spin my ice right round
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/APS.DFD.2024.GFM.P2676604
Icebergs drift through the oceans under the influence of currents, strong winds and Coriolis forces, melting freshwater far from their source. The world's largest iceberg, A23a, is currently spinning in a Taylor column off the coast of Antarctica and could remain this way for years to come. Inspired by A23a, we image the meltwater plumes beneath steadily rotating ice to study the effect of rotation on ice melting dynamics. Fluorescein dye is frozen into the ice and the plumes are made visible by a 470nm light source. Without rotation (left), the meltwater remains attached at the ice base until it forms a narrow plume at the ice center. As the rotation rate is increased to ω = 13.7°/s (middle) and ω = 27.5°/s (right), the detachment point of the meltwater moves toward the outer radius, the plume width increases and the overall melt rate increases. With the addition of rotation, the puffing instability (characteristic of turbulent lazy plumes) becomes visible.
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