Ice-sheet flotation ($\rho H={\rho }_{w}b$)

At a grounding line, hydrostatic pressures balance when the weight of an ice column of thickness $H$ and mass density $\rho$ equals the weight of its displaced water, of depth $b$ and mass density ${\rho }_w$. Thus flotation gives $\rho H={\rho }_{w}b$. Its time derivative along a moving grounding line relates local thickness changes to grounding-line speed; it supplies a different boundary condition from the unbuttressed Newtonian grounding-line stress.