Benchmarking the vertically integrated ice-sheet model IMAU-ICE (version 2.0)

Abstract

Ice-dynamical processes constitute a large uncertainty in future projections of sea-level rise caused by anthropogenic climate change. Improving our understanding of these processes requires ice-sheet models that perform well at simulating both past and future ice-sheet evolution. Here, we present version 2.0 of the ice-sheet model IMAU-ICE, which uses the depth-integrated viscosity approximation (DIVA) to solve the stress balance. We evaluate its performance in a range of benchmark experiments, including simple analytical solutions and both schematic and realistic model intercomparison exercises. IMAU-ICE has adopted recent developments in the numerical treatment of englacial stress and sub-shelf melt near the grounding line, which result in good performance in experiments concerning grounding-line migration (MISMIP, MISMIP+) and buttressing (ABUMIP). This makes it a model that is robust, versatile, and user-friendly, which will provide a firm basis for (palaeo-)glaciological research in the coming years.