Patterns in frictional resistance of ice-stream beds

Use of new data-sets for ice velocity, ice surface and bed topography have allowed the frictional properties of the bed to be calculated with greater spatial resolution, with a more sophisticated new generation of ice flow models. The key finding is that the spatial pattern exhibits regularities, which are very likely to be generated by the operation of the physical system of flowing ice, water and sediment at the base of the glacier. These patterns are consistent with other observation of dynamism of the ice-bed interface, and provide a target for modellers to test their hypotheses.