Dynamics of Ice Shelf

1
Dynamics of Ice Shelf Ocean Interaction
Evaluation of Marine Ice Sheet Instability

• Personnel W. Lipscomb, M. Maltrud, S. Price, T.
  Ringler (LANL)
• Collaborators David Holland, Carl Gladish (NYU)
• Goal Develop and apply a high-resolution,
  regional, coupled ice-sheet/ice-shelf/ocean model
  to assess the stability of the West Antarctic Ice
  Sheet.
• Progress
• We have developed an ice-sheet/shelf model with
  higher-order stresses and a dynamic grounding
  line. The model is being validated for idealized
  geometries.
• We have written a coupler that computes exchange
  of mass and heat with the ocean, given the
  mixed-layer temperature and salinity.
• Development of the HYPOP ocean model has been
  proceeding in parallel the next step is to
  modify HYPOP to simulate sub-ice-shelf
  circulation.

Diagnostic shelf velocity compared to benchmark
Snapshots of ice thickness and velocity (Ice
shelf forced by ocean and run to steady state)