A new 3D full-Stokes calving algorithm within Elmer/Ice (v9.0)

• Main Authors: Wheel, Iain, Benn, Douglas I., Crawford, Anna J., Todd, Joe A., Zwinger, Thomas
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2024
• Subjects: Tidewater
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2023-2778; https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2024/egusphere-2023-2778/

A new calving algorithm was developed in the glacier model Elmer/Ice that allows unrestricted calving and terminus advance in 3D. The algorithm used the meshing software Mmg to implement anisotropic remeshing and allow mesh adaptation at each timestep. The development of the algorithm along with the implementation of the crevasse depth law produced a new full-Stokes calving model capable of simulating calving and terminus advance across an array of complex geometries. Using a synthetic tidewater glacier geometry the model was tested to highlight the non-physical parameters that can alter calving. For a system with no clear attractor, model timestep and mesh resolution are shown to alter the simulated calving. In particular vertical mesh resolution had a large impact, increasing calving, as the frontal bending stresses are better resolved. However, when the system had a strong attractor, provided by basal pinning points, non-physical parameters have a limited affect on the terminus evolution. The new algorithm is capable of implementing unlimited terminus advance and retreat as well as unrestricted calving geometries, applying any melt field to the front, use in conjunction with any calving law or potentially advecting variables downstream.