Full Stokes modeling of marine ice sheets: influence of the grid size

Gaël Durand (1) , Olivier Gagliardini (1) , Thomas Zwinger (2) , Emmanuel Le Meur (1) , Richard C.A. Hindmarsh (3)

1 LGGE - Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement
2 CSC - Scientific Computing Ltd
3 BAS - British Antarctic Survey

Using the finite-element code Elmer, we show that the full Stokes modeling of the ice-sheet/ice-shelf transition we propose can give consistent predictions of grounding-line migration. Like other marine ice-sheet models our approach is highly sensitive to the chosen mesh resolution. However, with a grid size down to <5 km in the vicinity of the grounding line, predictions start to be robust because: (1) whatever the grid size (<5 km) the steady-state grounding-line position is sensibly the same (6 km standard deviation), and (2) with a grid-size refinement in the vicinity of the grounding line (200 m), the steady-state solution is independent of the applied perturbation in fluidity, provided this perturbation remains monotonic.

Domains: Glaciology

Gaël Durand, Olivier Gagliardini, Thomas Zwinger, Emmanuel Le Meur, Richard C.A. Hindmarsh. Full Stokes modeling of marine ice sheets: influence of the grid size. Annals of Glaciology, 2009, 50 (52), pp.109-1144. ⟨10.3189/172756409789624283⟩. ⟨insu-00420761⟩