Modeling Ice-Sheet Flow

Permanent Link:: http://dpanther.fiu.edu/dpService/dpPurlService/purl/FI15062168/00001

Material Information

Subjects / Keywords:: Climate Change ( lcsh )
Greenland ( lcsh )
Ice Sheets ( lcsh )
Antarctica ( lcsh )

Abstract:: The great Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are the “wild cards” in projections of sea-level change ( 1). Early models of the coupled ocean-atmosphere system treated the ice sheets as static white mountains. Observations since then have shown that ice sheets can change quickly (2): In some places, the tides strongly modulate coastal ice flow; in others, warming-induced iceshelf loss has caused the flow speed of the subsequently unbuttressed inland ice to increase almost 10-fold within a few weeks ( 3, 4). A new generation of full-stress ice-sheet models incorporates the physics needed to reproduce such processes (see the figure) ( 5– 7). Including full stresses does improve ice-fl ow simulations ( 8). Well-validated, robust projections of ice-sheet behavior under climate change nevertheless remain a challenge, as they will require an ensemble of model ice sheets coupled to the rest of the climate system. ( English )

Source Institution:: Florida International University
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