Journal of Glaciology (2019), 65(250) 212–224 doi: 10.1017/jog.2018.107 © The Author(s) 2019. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re- use or in order to create a derivative work. On nonlinear strain theory for a viscoelastic material model and its implications for calving of ice shelves JULIA CHRISTMANN,1,2 RALF MÜLLER,2 ANGELIKA HUMBERT1,3 1Division of Geosciences/Glaciology, Alfred Wegener Institute Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven, Germany 2Institute of Applied Mechanics, University of Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, Germany 3Division of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany Correspondence: Julia Christmann <
[email protected]> ABSTRACT. In the current ice-sheet models calving of ice shelves is based on phenomenological approaches. To obtain physics-based calving criteria, a viscoelastic Maxwell model is required account- ing for short-term elastic and long-term viscous deformation. On timescales of months to years between calving events, as well as on long timescales with several subsequent iceberg break-offs, deformations are no longer small and linearized strain measures cannot be used. We present a finite deformation framework of viscoelasticity and extend this model by a nonlinear Glen-type viscosity. A finite element implementation is used to compute stress and strain states in the vicinity of the ice-shelf calving front.