An enthalpy formulation for glaciers and ice sheets

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.

In the department of Integrative Earth system science at the newly founded Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology (MPI-GEA) in Jena, Germany, we are providing a three-year PhD position as part of the DFG priority program “Antarctic Research with Comparative Investigations in Arctic Ice Areas”.

A two-year PostDoc positions in ice sheet and Earth system modelling is available in the Ice Dynamics group, as part of the new Earth Resilience Science Unit (ERSU), at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK).

Two PhD fellowship positions in ice sheet modelling are advertised at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen.