NEWS: Parallel netCDF4 allows first Greenland simulation on a 1km grid
The Parallel Ice Sheet Model 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
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. It is supported by NASA Modeling, Analysis, and Prediction and ARSC.
PISM Application of the Month
May 2012
Click on the thumbnail to download the PDF (~3Mb).
| Kinematic first-order calving law implies potential for abrupt ice-shelf retreat | |
| ice sheet: | Antarctic ice shelves |
| investigators: | Anders Levermann and others |
| venue: | The Cryosphere |
Observed large-scale disintegration of Antarctic ice shelves has moved their fronts closer towards grounded ice, accelerating ice-sheet discharge and contributing to global sea-level rise. Here we describe the first-order large-scale kinematic contribution to calving which is consistent with large-scale observation. This calving law depends only on local ice properties which are, however, determined by the full topography of the ice shelf. Simulations in PISM-PIK using the parameterization reproduces multiple stable fronts as observed for the Larsen A and B Ice Shelves, including abrupt transitions between them. We also find multiple stable states of the Ross Ice Shelf.
Latest News
Parallel netCDF4 allows first Greenland simulation on a 1km grid
The upcoming stable 0.5 release supports parallel NetCDF4, thus avoiding the file size limitations of netCDF3. This allows for unprecedented grid resolutions.
Here at UAF we have performed the first Greenland 1km 100-year simulations, run in parallel on 512 cores.
Observed and modeled surface speeds in meters per year.
a) observed (Joughin et al., 2010)
b) PISM constant-climate initialization
c) PISM paleo-climate initialization
(click on the image for a bigger version)
1st European PISM Workshop in Hamburg, Germany, 21-22 May 2012
The European PISM (Parallel Ice Sheet Model) workshop will be held in Hamburg, Germany, from Monday, the May 21, 2012 (starting at noon), to Tuesday, May 22. Workshop information and registration is available at
http://www.mpimet.mpg.de/en/wissenschaft/ozean-im-erdsystem/euro-pism-workshop.html
Also see this poster.
