On the calculation of normal modes of a coupled ice-shelf/sub-ice-shelf cavity system

Abstract

A corrected solution method is presented for a mathematical model of wave motions in a coupled ice-shelf/sub-iceshelf water-cavity system. The method is used to calculate the periods of the system’s normal modes, and the longest periods are shown to be significantly larger than those calculated using an existing method containing errors. Highly accurate approximations of the normal-mode periods are obtained for a model involving a single non-spectral physical parameter - the shelf/cavity length.