Colloquium

The melting of ice in Greenland and Antarctica would be by far the major contributor to sea level rise. Thus, to make science-based predictions about sea-level rise, it is crucial that the ice sheets covering those land masses be accurately mathematically modeled and computationally simulated. In fact, because the science of ice sheets is not developed to a sufficient degree, predictions of sea level rise cannot be rationally and confidently made. In recent years, there has been much activity in trying to improve the state-of-the-art of ice sheet modeling and simulation. In this lecture, we review a hierarchy of mathematical models for the flow of ice, pointing out the relative merits and demerits of each, showing how they are coupled to other climate system components, and discussing where further modeling work is needed. We then discuss algorithmic approaches for the approximate solution of ice sheet flow models and present and compare results obtained from simulations using the different mathematical models.