Bistability in radiatively heated melt ponds
arXiv:2506.14093 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.234002
Abstract
Melting and solidification processes, intertwined with convective flows, play a fundamental role in geophysical contexts. One of these processes is the formation of melt ponds on glaciers, ice shelves, and sea ice. It is driven by solar radiation and is of great significance for the Earth's heat balance, as it significantly lowers the albedo. Through direct numerical simulations and theoretical analysis, we unveil a bistability phenomenon in the melt pond dynamics. As solar radiation intensity and the melt pond's initial depth vary, an abrupt transition occurs: This tipping point transforms the system from a stable fully frozen state to another stable equilibrium state, characterized by a distinct melt pond depth. The physics of this transition can be understood within a heat flux balance model, which exhibits excellent agreement with our numerical results. Together with the Grossmann-Lohse theory for internally heated convection, the model correctly predicts the bulk temperature and the flow strength within the melt ponds, offering insight into the coupling of phase transitions with adjacent turbulent flows and the interplay between convective melting and radiation-driven processes.
References in corpus (16)
- Large scale dynamics in turbulent Rayleigh-Benard convection
- Scaling in thermal convection: A unifying theory
- Thermal convection for large Prandtl numbers
- Nonlinear threshold behavior during the loss of Arctic sea ice
- Rayleigh-Bénard convection with a melting boundary
- How the growth of ice depends on the fluid dynamics underneath
- Basal melting driven by turbulent thermal convection
- Aspect ratio affects iceberg melting
- Scaling in internally heated convection: a unifying theory
- Bistability in Rayleigh-Bénard convection with a melting boundary
- Topography generation by melting and freezing in a turbulent shear flow
- Improved phase-field models of melting and dissolution in multi-component flows
- Simple rules govern the patterns of Arctic sea ice melt ponds
- Sea Water Freezing Modes in a Natural Convection System
- Ice front shaping by upward convective current
- Equilibrium states of the ice-water front in a differentially heated rectangular cell