A model of the Antarctic Ice Sheet

Abstract

Numerical modelling of ice sheets and glaciers has become a useful tool in glaciological research. A model described here deals with the vertical mean ice velocity, is time dependent, computes bedrock adjustment and uses an empirical diagnostic relationship to derive the distribution of ice thickness in ice shelves. The rate of snowfall and ice/snow melt depends on the (prescribed) sea-level temperature, surface slope, elevation and distance to open water. The model is able to reproduce the major. features of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. When it is run to a steady state for present climatic conditions, the main difference with the present ice sheet is that the shallow parts of the Weddell Sea become covered by grounded ice.