Estimating the ice thickness of shallow glaciers from surface topography and mass-balance data with a shape optimization algorithm

A shape optimization algorithm is presented that estimates the ice thickness distribution within a three-dimensional, shallow glacier, given a transient surface geometry and a mass-balance distribution. The approach is based on the minimization of the surface topography misfit in the shallow ice approximation by means of a primal-dual procedure. The method's essential novelty is that it uses surface topography and mass-balance data only within the context of a time-dependent problem with evolving surface topography. Moreover, the algorithm is capable of computing some of the model parameters concurrently with the ice thickness distribution. The method is validated on synthetic and real-world data, where the choice of its Tikhonov regularization parameter by means of an L-curve criterion is discussed. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Marco Picasso, Laurent Michel, Heinz Blatter, Martin Funk
2014
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https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/199635?ln=en

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Related concepts (4)

Mass balance

In physics, a mass balance, also called a material balance, is an application of conservation of mass to the analysis of physical systems. By accounting for material entering and leaving a system, mass flows can be identified which might have been unknown, or difficult to measure without this technique. The exact conservation law used in the analysis of the system depends on the context of the problem, but all revolve around mass conservation, i.e., that matter cannot disappear or be created spontaneously.

Parameter

A parameter (), generally, is any characteristic that can help in defining or classifying a particular system (meaning an event, project, object, situation, etc.). That is, a parameter is an element of a system that is useful, or critical, when identifying the system, or when evaluating its performance, status, condition, etc. Parameter has more specific meanings within various disciplines, including mathematics, computer programming, engineering, statistics, logic, linguistics, and electronic musical composition.

Algorithm

In mathematics and computer science, an algorithm (ˈælɡərɪðəm) is a finite sequence of rigorous instructions, typically used to solve a class of specific problems or to perform a computation. Algorithms are used as specifications for performing calculations and data processing. More advanced algorithms can use conditionals to divert the code execution through various routes (referred to as automated decision-making) and deduce valid inferences (referred to as automated reasoning), achieving automation eventually.