Published: Apr 1, 2012 by The PISM Authors
| Title | An enthalpy formulation for glaciers and ice sheets |
| Authors | Andreas Aschwanden and others |
| Venue | Journal of Glaciology |
| Location | Greenland and other ice sheets |
Polythermal conditions are ubiquitous among glaciers and ice sheets. Fortunately, temperature and liquid water fraction are functions of a single enthalpy variable: a small enthalpy change in cold ice is a change in temperature, while a small enthalpy change in temperate ice is a change in liquid water fraction. The unified enthalpy formulation described in this paper models the mass and energy balance for the three-dimensional ice fluid, for the surface runoff layer and for the subglacial hydrology layer, together in a single energy-conserving theoretical framework. It is implemented in PISM. Results for the Greenland ice sheet are compared with those from a cold-ice scheme.