André Löfgren: Stability of the free-surface problem arising in ice-sheet- and glacier modeling-Numerical investigation and stabilization

Abstract

This thesis consists of two papers dealing with a stabilization method for free-surface flows. The method was initially developed to stabilize mantle-convection simulations, but is in this work extended to ice-sheet- and glacier modeling. The objective of this thesis is to assess the method when applied glaciological simulations, with regards to stability and accuracy. It is shown that the method works well and increases stable time-step sizes substantially both for ice-sheet- and glacier simulations, without loss of accuracy. The increased stability properties might be useful for performing long-term simulations and increasing sea-level-rise predictions on a centennial time scale.