This dataset contains data for the plots in Figures 3 and 4 in the article: Effective rheology across the fragmentation transition for sea ice and ice shelves, Åström, and D.I. Benn, GRL, 2019. The data is produced with the numerical simulation code HiDEM, which is an open source code that can be found at: https://github.com/joeatodd/HiDEM. The data plots in the paper contain the data used as benchmarks for testing the reliability of the simulations (Fig.3), and the main results (Fig. 4), the effective rheology of sea ice across the fragmentation transition. Funding was provided by the NERC grant NE/P011365/1 Calving Laws for Ice Sheet Models CALISMO.

A ground-based radar survey consisting of 35 discrete quad-polarization measurement sites over three field seasons was undertaken on Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica. Sites A01 to A10 were collected on 20 January 2017, along a profile orientated perpendicular to the ice flow direction. The 10 sites are located between the central ice flowline and the ice-stream margin along a profile of length 8.5 km with the inter-site spacing decreasing toward the ice-stream margin. Sites B01 to B10 were collected on 05 December 2019, along a profile orientated parallel to the central flowline. The sites were surveyed with the first site 4 km upstream of site A01 and the inter-site distance spacing fixed at 4 km. Sites C01 to C11 were collected on 14 December 2018, and located between sites A01 and A02 at 200 m spacing. Sites D01-D04, collected on 25 January 2019, are downstream of A01 and form a diamond shape with 800 m spacing. At each site, polarimetric radar-sounding measurements were made using an autonomous phase-sensitive radio-echo sounder (ApRES), a frequency-modulated continuous-wave radar. The ApRES has a centre frequency of 300 MHz and a bandwidth of 200 MHz, which results in a range resolution of approximately 40 cm in ice. ApRES radar data were collected as part of the BEAMISH Project (NERC AFI award numbers NE/G014159/1 and NE/G013187/1).

We use polarimetric radar sounding to investigate variation in ice crystal orientation fabric within the near-surface (top 40-300 m) of Rutford Ice Stream, West Antarctica. To assess the influence of the fabric on ice flow, we use an analytical model to derive anisotropic enhancements of the flow law from the fabric measurements. In the shallowest ice (40-100 m) the azimuthal fabric orientation is consistent with flow-induced development and correlates with the surface strain field. Notably, toward the ice-stream margins, both the horizontal compression angle and fabric orientation tend toward 45 degrees relative to ice flow. This result is consistent with theoretical predictions of flow-induced fabric under simple shear, but to our knowledge has never been observed. The fabric orientation in deeper ice (100-300 m) is significantly misaligned with shallower ice in some locations, and therefore inconsistent with the local surface strain field. This result represents a new challenge for ice flow models which typically infer basal properties from the surface conditions assuming simplified vertical variation of ice flow. Our technique retrieves azimuthal variations in fabric but is insensitive to vertical variation, and we therefore constrain the fabric and rheology within two end-members: a vertical girdle or a horizontal pole. Our hypotheses are that fabric near the center of the ice-stream tends to a vertical girdle that enhances horizontal compression, and near the ice-stream margins tends to a horizontal pole that enhances lateral shear. ApRES radar data were collected as part of the BEAMISH Project (NERC AFI award numbers NE/G014159/1 and NE/G013187/1). Tom Jordan would like to acknowledge support from EU Horizon 2020 grant 747336-BRISRES-H2020-MSCA-IF-2016. ***** PLEASE BE ADVISED THIS DATA SET HAS BEEN RETRACTED ***** This data set had incorrect coordinates for one of the sites. In addition, some files were incorrectly labelled as belonging to one of the sites A new data set (see ''Related Data Set Metadata'' link below) addresses these issues and also includes significant additional data, as well as updated metadata and additional authors. Hence it is a wholly new data set, rather than an updated version of this data set. Please use this new data set instead.