Applied Mathematics Laboratory Publishes Breakthrough Research on Melting Icebergs

October 28, 2025

Leif Ristroph, Associate Professor of Mathematics, and his team in the Applied Mathematics Laboratory have pinpointed factors that cause icebergs to capsize in a new paper published in Physical Review Fluids, offering insights into how climate change may affect Earth’s waters. “We learned that melting primarily happens along the wetted surface of the ice below the waterline while the ‘tip’ out of the water is almost unaffected, which eventually leaves the ice top heavy so that it loses gravitational stability in the water and rotates over,” Professor Ristroph explains. You can read more here. The research—co-authored by Bobae Johnson, Scott Weady, Zihan Zhang, and Alison Kim—was also covered by Cosmos and ENN.