Monstars on Glaciers

Abstract

AbstractIsotropic points are structurally stable features of any complicated field of stress or strain-rate, and therefore will almost always be present on the surface of a glacier. A given isotropic point for strain-rate will belong to one of six different classes, depending on the pattern (lemon, star, or monstar) of principal directions and the contours (ellipses or hyperbolas) of constant principal strain-rate values in its neighbourhood. The central isotropic point on a glacier should theoretically have a monstar pattern, but the contours around it may sometimes be elliptic and sometimes hyperbolic. Nearby, but not coincident with it there will be an isotropic point for stress. This will also have a monstar pattern but, in contrast to the strain-rate point, the contours around it must be hyperbolic. Published examples are consistent with these conclusions. In addition to isotropic points for strain-rate a glacier surface will contain isolated points of pure shear; these also can be classified into six different types. Stable features of this kind give information about the essential structure of a tensor field and form useful points of comparison between observation and numerical simulation.