Modeling the breaking-off of icebergs from tidewater glaciers

Ice calving is the breakaway process of icebergs which plays an important role in the dy- namics and the mass balance of ice sheets. Our project is to use Akantu (An open source object-oriented Finite Element library by LSMS) to reproduce the fracturing stages of the Bowdoin glacier in Greenland. Studies were first made on the mechanisms of ice calving and the provided data, to extract the key factors for our simulation. The HPC (high performance computing) simulation model was built by Python scripts, including preprocessing mesh file, applying arbitrary loading profiles, defining boundary conditions and initial conditions, pass- ing message through the simulation process, etc. The simulation scheme has been modified to better analysis the impact of water pressure and velocity field. Simulation acceleration was also implemented by amplifying the velocity field, so that the damage initiation and propagation could be explored faster. Some preliminary results about the relationship of system energy and damage propagation was analyzed. In the end, we proposed some study direction for the future researchers on the similar subject.

Freshwater Flux and Spatiotemporal Simulated Runoff Variability into Ilulissat Icefjord, West Greenland, Linked to Salinity and Temperature Observations near Tidewater Glacier Margins Obtained Using Instrumented Ringed Seals

Konrad Steffen

The distribution of terrestrial surface runoff to Ilulissat Icefjord, west Greenland, is simulated for the period 2009-13 to better emphasize the spatiotemporal variability in freshwater flux and the link between runoff spikes and observed hydrographic conditions at theGreenland Ice Sheet tidewater glacier margins. Runoffmodel simulations were forced with automatic weather station data and verified against snow water equivalent depth, equilibrium line altitude, and quasi-continuous salinity and temperature observations obtained by ringed seals. Instrumented seals provide a novel platform to examine the otherwise inaccessible waters beneath the dense ice melange within the first 0-10 km of the calving front. The estimated mean freshwater flux from land was 70.6 +/- 4.2 km(3) yr(-1), with an 85% contribution of ice discharge from Jakobshavn Isbrae (also known as SermeqKujalleq), 14% from runoff, and the remaining 1% from precipitation on the fjord surface area, subglacial geothermal melting, and frictional melting due to basal ice motion. Runoff was simulated to be present from May to November and to vary spatially according to glacier cover and individual catchment size. Salinity and temperature observations correlate (significantly) with simulated runoff for the upper part of both the main fjord and southern fjord arm. Also, at the tidewater glacier margins in the northern and southern arm of Ilulissat Icefjord, salinity changes in the upper water column (upper 50 m) are significant after temporal spikes in runoff during late summer, while small-amplitude runoff variability during the recession of runoff did not create a clear signal in observed salinity variability. Also, in the southern arm near the glacier margin (between 100- and 150-m depth), the heterogeneous distribution in salinity could be because of the mixing of meltwater going upward from passing the grounding line. The effect of runoff spikes on observed salinity is less pronounced near the ice margin of Jakobshavn Isbrae than in the north and south arms.

Amer Meteorological Soc2015

Konrad Steffen

Amer Meteorological Soc2015