Restoring mass conservation to shallow ice flow models over complex terrain

Numerical simulation of glacier dynamics in mountainous regions using zero-order, shallow ice models is desirable for computational efficiency so as to allow broad coverage. However, these models present several difficulties when applied to complex terrain. One such problem arises where steep terrai...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inThe cryosphere Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 229 - 240
Main Authors Jarosch, A. H, Schoof, C. G, Anslow, F. S
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Katlenburg-Lindau Copernicus GmbH 07.02.2013
Copernicus Publications
Subjects
Analysis
Benchmarking
Computational efficiency
Computer simulation
Conservation
Flow (Dynamics)
Glaciers
Mathematical analysis
Mathematical models
Terrain
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Numerical simulation of glacier dynamics in mountainous regions using zero-order, shallow ice models is desirable for computational efficiency so as to allow broad coverage. However, these models present several difficulties when applied to complex terrain. One such problem arises where steep terrain can spuriously lead to large ice fluxes that remove more mass from a grid cell than it originally contains, leading to mass conservation being violated. This paper describes a vertically integrated, shallow ice model using a second-order flux-limiting spatial discretization scheme that enforces mass conservation. An exact solution to ice flow over a bedrock step is derived for a given mass balance forcing as a benchmark to evaluate the model performance in such a difficult setting. This benchmark should serve as a useful test for modellers interested in simulating glaciers over complex terrain.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1994-0424
1994-0416
1994-0424
1994-0416
DOI:10.5194/tc-7-229-2013