Computational modelling of the dynamics of sea ice in the Antarctic marginal ice zone

摘要

Sea ice plays a significant role in the global climate, and covers approximately 10% of the earth's surface (Wilchinsky and Feltham, 2006). Understanding sea ice dynamics and thermodynamics results in better sea ice predictions and therefore a better comprehension of the Antarctic marginal ice zone (MIZ). Large-scale sea ice models, such as Hibler's viscous-plastic sea ice model, which operate at length scales of 10 to 100 kilometers representing the total domain size, have been developed to some success. The viscous-plastic model by Hibler (1979a,b) is largely recognised as the standard sea ice dynamics model, which has been widely applied in global climate models. Small-scale models of sea ice dynamics are scarce, in particular with respect to the characteristic pancake ice found in the Antarctic MIZ (Dansereau et al., 2016), and therefore the focus in this work is on small-scale modelling of pancake sea ice dynamics.