pism

[fork] customized build of PISM, the parallel ice sheet model (tillflux branch)
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pik.rst (8960B)


      1 .. include:: ../../../global.txt
      2 
      3 .. _sec-pism-pik:
      4 
      5 PIK options for marine ice sheets
      6 ---------------------------------
      7 
      8 .. contents::
      9 
     10 References :cite:`Albrechtetal2011`, :cite:`Levermannetal2012`, :cite:`Winkelmannetal2011`
     11 by the research group of Prof. Anders Levermann at the Potsdam Institute for Climate
     12 Impact Research ("PIK"), Germany, describe most of the mechanisms covered in this section.
     13 These are all improvements to the grounded, SSA-as-a-sliding law model of
     14 :cite:`BBssasliding`. These improvements make PISM an effective Antarctic model, as
     15 demonstrated by :cite:`Golledgeetal2013`, :cite:`Martinetal2011`,
     16 :cite:`Winkelmannetal2012`, among other publications. These improvements had a separate
     17 existence as the "PISM-PIK" model from 2009--2010, but since PISM stable0.4 are part of
     18 PISM itself.
     19 
     20 A summary of options to turn on most of these "PIK" mechanisms is in
     21 :numref:`tab-pism-pik`. More information on the particular mechanisms is given in
     22 sub-sections :ref:`sec-cfbc` through :ref:`sec-subgrid-grounding-line` that follow the
     23 Table.
     24 
     25 .. list-table:: Options which turn on PIK ice shelf front and grounding line mechanisms. A
     26                 calving law choice is needed in addition to these options.
     27    :name: tab-pism-pik
     28    :header-rows: 1
     29    :widths: 1,3
     30 
     31    * - Option
     32      - Description
     33 
     34    * - :opt:`-cfbc`
     35      - apply the stress boundary condition along the ice shelf calving front
     36        :cite:`Winkelmannetal2011`
     37 
     38    * - :opt:`-kill_icebergs`
     39      - identify and eliminate free-floating icebergs, which cause well-posedness problems
     40        for the SSA stress balance solver :cite:`Winkelmannetal2011`
     41 
     42    * - :opt:`-part_grid`
     43      - allow the ice shelf front to advance by a part of a grid cell, avoiding
     44        the development of unphysically-thinned ice shelves :cite:`Albrechtetal2011` 
     45 
     46    * - :opt:`-subgl`
     47      - apply interpolation to compute basal shear stress and basal melt near the grounding
     48        line :cite:`Feldmannetal2014`
     49 
     50    * - :opt:`-no_subgl_basal_melt`
     51      - **don't** apply interpolation to compute basal melt near the grounding line if
     52        :opt:`-subgl` is set :cite:`Feldmannetal2014`
     53     
     54    * - :opt:`-pik`
     55      - equivalent to option combination ``-cfbc -kill_icebergs -part_grid -subgl``
     56 
     57 .. note::
     58 
     59    When in doubt, PISM users should set option :opt:`-pik` to turn on all of mechanisms in
     60    :numref:`tab-pism-pik`. The user should also choose a calving model from
     61    :numref:`tab-calving`. However, the :opt:`-pik` mechanisms will not be effective if the
     62    non-default FEM stress balance :opt:`-ssa_method fem` is chosen.
     63 
     64 .. _sec-cfbc:
     65 
     66 Stress condition at calving fronts
     67 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
     68 
     69 The vertically integrated force balance at floating calving fronts has been formulated by
     70 :cite:`Morland` as
     71 
     72 .. math::
     73    :label: eq-cfbc
     74 
     75    \int_{z_s-\frac{\rho}{\rho_w}H}^{z_s+(1-\frac{\rho}{\rho_w})H}\mathbf{\sigma}\cdot\mathbf{n}\;dz
     76    = \int_{z_s-\frac{\rho}{\rho_w}H}^{z_s}\rho_w g (z-z_s) \;\mathbf{n}\;dz.
     77 
     78 with `\mathbf{n}` being the horizontal normal vector pointing from the ice boundary
     79 oceanward, `\mathbf{\sigma}` the *Cauchy* stress tensor, `H` the ice thickness and `\rho`
     80 and `\rho_{w}` the densities of ice and seawater, respectively, for a sea level of `z_s`.
     81 The integration limits on the right hand side of equation :eq:`eq-cfbc` account for the
     82 pressure exerted by the ocean on that part of the shelf, which is below sea level (bending
     83 and torque neglected). The limits on the left hand side change for water-terminating
     84 outlet glacier or glacier fronts above sea level according to the bed topography. By
     85 applying the ice flow law (section :ref:`sec-rheology`), equation :eq:`eq-cfbc` can be
     86 rewritten in terms of strain rates (velocity derivatives), as one does with the SSA stress
     87 balance itself.
     88 
     89 Note that the discretized SSA stress balance, in the default finite difference
     90 discretization chosen by :opt:`-ssa_method` ``fd``, is solved with an iterative matrix
     91 scheme. If option :opt:`-cfbc` is set then, during matrix assembly, those equations which
     92 are for fully-filled grid cells along the ice domain boundary have terms replaced
     93 according to equation :eq:`eq-cfbc`, so as to apply the correct stresses
     94 :cite:`Albrechtetal2011`, :cite:`Winkelmannetal2011`.
     95 
     96 .. _sec-part-grid:
     97 
     98 Partially-filled cells at the boundaries of ice shelves
     99 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    100 
    101 Albrecht et al :cite:`Albrechtetal2011` argue that the correct movement of the ice shelf
    102 calving front on a finite-difference grid, assuming for the moment that ice velocities are
    103 correctly determined (see below), requires tracking some cells as being partially-filled
    104 (option :opt:`-part_grid`). If the calving front is moving forward, for example, then the
    105 neighboring cell gets a little ice at the next time step. It is not correct to add that
    106 little mass as a thin layer of ice which fills the cell's horizontal extent, as that would
    107 smooth the steep ice front after a few time steps. Instead the cell must be regarded as
    108 having ice which is comparably thick to the upstream cells, but where the ice only
    109 partially fills the cell.
    110 
    111 Specifically, the PIK mechanism turned on by :opt:`-part_grid` adds mass to the
    112 partially-filled cell which the advancing front enters, and it determines the coverage
    113 ratio according to the ice thickness of neighboring fully-filled ice shelf cells. If
    114 option :opt:`-part_grid` is used then the PISM output file will have field
    115 ``ice_area_specific_volume`` which tracks the amount of ice in the partially-filled cells
    116 as a "thickness", or, more appropriately, "volume per unit area". When a cell becomes
    117 fully-filled, in the sense that the ``ice_area_specific_volume`` reaches the average of
    118 the ice thickness in neighboring ice-filled cells, then the residual mass is redistributed
    119 to neighboring partially-filled or empty grid cells.
    120 
    121 The stress balance equations determining the velocities are only sensitive to
    122 "fully-filled" cells. Similarly, advection is controlled only by values of velocity in
    123 fully-filled cells. Adaptive time stepping (specifically: the CFL criterion) limits the
    124 speed of ice front propagation so that at most one empty cell is filled, or one full cell
    125 emptied, per time step by the advance or retreat, respectively, of the calving front.
    126 
    127 .. _sec-kill-icebergs:
    128 
    129 Iceberg removal
    130 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    131 
    132 Any calving mechanism (see section :ref:`sec-calving`) removes ice along the seaward front
    133 of the ice shelf domain. This can lead to isolated cells either filled or partially-filled
    134 with floating ice, or to patches of floating ice (icebergs) fully surrounded by ice free
    135 ocean neighbors. This ice is detached from the flowing and partly-grounded ice sheet. That
    136 is, calving can lead to icebergs.
    137 
    138 In terms of our basic model of ice as a viscous fluid, however, the stress balance for an
    139 iceberg is not well-posed because the ocean applies no resistance to balance the driving
    140 stress. (See :cite:`SchoofStream`.) In this situation the numerical SSA stress balance
    141 solver will fail.
    142 
    143 Option :opt:`-kill_icebergs` turns on the mechanism which cleans this up. This option is
    144 therefore generally needed if there is nontrivial calving or significant variations in sea
    145 level during a simulation. The mechanism identifies free-floating icebergs by using a
    146 2-scan connected-component labeling algorithm. It then eliminates such icebergs, with the
    147 corresponding mass loss reported as a part of the 2D discharge flux diagnostic (see
    148 section :ref:`sec-saving-diagnostics`).
    149 
    150 .. _sec-subgrid-grounding-line:
    151 
    152 Sub-grid treatment of the grounding line position
    153 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
    154 
    155 The command-line option :opt:`-subgl` turns on a parameterization of the grounding line
    156 position based on the "LI" parameterization described in :cite:`Gladstoneetal2010` and
    157 :cite:`Feldmannetal2014`. With this option PISM computes an extra flotation mask,
    158 available as the :var:`cell_grounded_fraction` output variable, which corresponds to the
    159 fraction of the cell that is grounded. Cells that are ice-free or fully floating are
    160 assigned the value of `0` while fully-grounded icy cells get the value of `1`. Partially
    161 grounded cells, the ones which contain the grounding line, get a value between `0` and
    162 `1`. The resulting field has two uses:
    163 
    164 - It is used to scale the basal friction in cells containing the grounding line in order
    165   to avoid an abrupt change in the basal friction from the "last" grounded cell to the
    166   "first" floating cell. See the source code browser for the detailed description and
    167   section :ref:`sec-MISMIP3d` for an application.
    168 - It is used to adjust the basal melt rate in cells containing the grounding line: in such
    169   cells the basal melt rate is set to `M_{b,\text{adjusted}} = \lambda
    170   M_{b,\text{grounded}} + (1 - \lambda)M_{b,\text{shelf-base}}`, where `\lambda` is the
    171   value of the flotation mask. Use :opt:`-no_subgl_basal_melt` to disable this.
    172