Elastic-viscous-plastic model for sea ice dynamics

摘要

We have developed and tested two separate methods. First, by demonstrating that the viscous-plastic rheology can be represented by a symmetric, negative definite matrix operator, we have implemented the faster and better behaved preconditioned conjugate gradient method. Second, realizing that only the response of the ice on time scales associated with wind forcing need be accurately resolved, we have modified the model to reduce to the viscous-plastic model at these time scales; at shorter time scales, the adjustment process takes place by a numerically efficient elastic wave mechanism. This modification leads to a fully explicit numerical scheme which further improves the computational efficiency and is an advantage for implementations on parallel machines. The explicit discretization of the elastic wave mechanism allows the elastic-viscous-plastic model to capture the ice response to variations in the imposed stress more accurately. Thus, the elastic-viscous-plastic model provides more accurate results for shorter time scales associated with physical forcing, reproduces viscous-plastic model behavior on longer time scales, and is computationally more efficient. 49 refs., 13 figs., 6 tabs.