Cryosphere

The goal is to use new EO data to quantify changes in the mass balance of the cryosphere and to develop new models to represent the relevant processes in coupled climate prediction models. Priorities in this theme include:

• Continuing investigations of using the OPA ocean model in the Arctic
• Testing melt pond physics in the sea ice-ocean model
• Determination of trends in Arctic ice thickness time-series from ERS-1/2, Envisat
• Validation of Envisat absolute thickness using in-situ data
• Development of new anisotropic sea ice rheology model using high resolution SAR data
• Improved GCM representation of sea ice-ocean edge
• Development of a new prognostic solver for ice-thickness using the Piecewise Parabolic Method for ice shelves
• Refinement of the existing plume model of ice shelf – ocean interaction to make more it suitable for climate studies (in particular, simplification of momentum balance, allowing flow within the ambient water mass and modularization of code)
• Application of the validated model to Pine Island Glacier and either Ross or Ronne-Filchner ice shelf/stream systems (chosen as hot-cold end members)
• Development, via a full Stoke's non-linear model, parameterisations of the floating point (grounding line) in lower order models.
• Determination, using InSAR, the ice discharge of key Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheet outlet glaciers at one epoch
• Estimation rate of basal ice melting beneath an Antarctic ice shelf as a combination of steady-state melting and thickness changes.
• Investigation of initial data from CryoSat-2
• Develop tidal predictions for Antarctic Ice Shelves
• Determine rates of Antarctic ice shelf thickness change using ERS-1/2, Envisat.

Arctic sea ice thickness measured using altimeter data.	Arctic sea ice
ESA's Cryosat satellite will make detailed measurements of sea ice thickness.