Table of Contents
The Parallel Ice Sheet Model stable0.5 is an open source, parallel, high-resolution ice sheet model:
- hierarchy of available stress balances
- marine ice sheet physics, dynamic calving fronts
- polythermal, enthalpy-based conservation of energy scheme
- extensible coupling to atmospheric and ocean models
- verification and validation tools
- complete documentation for users and developers
Latest News
Continued NASA funding supports PISM development through 2017
We have been notified that two PISM-supporting NASA research proposals have been selected for funding, one in the Cryospheric Sciences program and one in the Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction (MAP) program. Our proposed research threads focus on the dynamics of the Greenland ice sheet and on the exploitation of NASA remote observations as constraints. The current MAP grant expires in the next few months, so this news is timely. The new grants support PISM development and application for four years, through mid-2017. They include support for UAF researchers Ed Bueler, Andy Aschwanden, and Mark Fahnestock, and full-time support for scientific programmer Constantine Khroulev.
PISM Application of the Month
May 2013
Click the image to get the PDF (1 MB).
| Modelling the outlet glaciers terminating in Godthab fjord | |
| investigators: | Antje Fitzner and Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Centre for Ice and Climate, Copenhagen |
| conference: | IGS 2012 Fairbanks |
Can regional ice dynamics modeling help to understand the mass loss of the Greenland ice sheet through surface melting and flow into outlet glaciers (calving and basal melting), and estimate the fresh water flux into a fjord? This study considers an example, the outlet glaciers terminating in Godthab fjord, including glacier Kangiata Nunaata Sermia. surface mass balance and 2 m air temperature from RACMO and HIRHAM RCM output were
compared. The new PISM “regional” mode, the pismo executable in stable0.5, was applied. The model captures the high velocities near the terminus qualitatively, but even at high 2 km model resolution the distinct fast flowing arms are not well modelled, and the modelled velocities and fluxes are overall lower than than observed. The question remains: Are there are deep troughs in the bed topography where the surface velocity is very high?
PISM team
PISM is jointly developed at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks (UAF) and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK). UAF developers are in the Glaciers Group at the GI. We are supported by NASA's Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction and Cryospheric Sciences Program and by the Arctic Region Supercomputing Center.
