A two-layer model of thermohaline ocean circulation under Antarctic ice
shelves is described that predicts sub-oceanic ice-shelf melt rates
given the basin geometries and ocean temperatures and salinities at the
ice edges. The model builds on a series of similar models, using an
upper plume layer and adding a balance-flux approach that enables it to
be used for evolving land-ocean geometries without the need to
pre-define individual basin outlines. Results are compared to Antarctic
melt rates derived from satellite data. The model is shown to work for
two simulated configurations of West Antarctica very different from
modern. In Supporting Information several alternate model aspects are
described, and results are tested against numerical solutions of the
basic plume differential equations for 1-D flowlines.