Ice sheet model SICOPOLIS


SICOPOLIS (SImulation COde for POLythermal Ice Sheets) is a 3-d dynamic/thermodynamic model which simulates the evolution of large ice sheets. It was originally created as a part of the doctoral thesis by Greve (1995) in a version for the Greenland ice sheet. Since then, SICOPOLIS has been developed continuously and applied to problems of past, present and future glaciation of Greenland, Antarctica, the entire northern hemisphere and also the polar ice caps of the planet Mars.

The model is based on the shallow ice approximation, so that longitudinal stress gradients are neglected. It is coded in Fortran 90 and uses finite-difference discretization on a staggered grid, the velocity components being taken between grid points. Its particularity is the detailed treatment of basal temperate layers (that is, regions with a temperature at the pressure melting point), which are positioned by fulfilling a Stefan-type jump condition at the interface to the cold-ice regions. Within the temperate layers, the water content is computed, and its influence on the ice viscosity is taken into account.

Required model forcing:

  • Surface mass balance
    (precipitation, evaporation, runoff).
  • Mean annual air temperature
    above the ice.
  • Eustatic sea level.
  • Geothermal heat flux.

Output (as functions of position and time):

  • Extent and thickness of the ice sheet.
  • Velocity field.
  • Temperature field.
  • Water-content field (temperate regions).
  • Age of the ice.
  • Isostatic displacement and temperature of the lithosphere.


How to get SICOPOLIS

Legal notes

SICOPOLIS is free software. It can be redistributed and/or modified under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at the user's option) any later version. Crediting the author (Ralf Greve) and referencing this web page (http://sicopolis.greveweb.net/) is appreciated.

SICOPOLIS is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.

Documentation

Support

  • Please contact  sicohelp <at-nospam> greveweb.net


Science with SICOPOLIS (selected references)

Heimbach, P. and V. Bugnion. 2009.
Greenland ice-sheet volume sensitivity to basal, surface and initial conditions derived from an adjoint model.
Ann. Glaciol. 50 (52), 67-80.

Greve, R. 2008.
Scenarios for the formation of Chasma Boreale, Mars.
Icarus 196 (2), 359-367. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2007.10.020.

Vizcaíno, M., U. Mikolajewicz, M. Gröger, E. Maier-Reimer, G. Schurgers and A. M. E. Winguth. 2008.
Long-term ice sheet-climate interactions under anthropogenic greenhouse forcing simulated with a complex Earth System Model.
Clim. Dyn. 31 (6), 665-690. doi:10.1007/s00382-008-0369-7.

Greve, R. 2005.
Relation of measured basal temperatures and the spatial distribution of the geothermal heat flux for the Greenland ice sheet.
Ann. Glaciol. 42, 424-432.

Forsström, P.-L., O. Sallasmaa, R. Greve and T. Zwinger. 2003.
Simulation of fast-flow features of the Fennoscandian ice sheet during the Last Glacial Maximum.
Ann. Glaciol. 37, 383-389.

Calov, R., A. Ganopolski, V. Petoukhov, M. Claussen and R. Greve. 2002.
Large-scale instabilities of the Laurentide ice sheet simulated in a fully coupled climate-system model.
Geophys. Res. Lett. 29 (24), 2216. doi:10.1029/2002GL016078.

Roe, G. H. and R. S. Lindzen. 2001.
The mutual interaction between continental-scale ice sheets and atmospheric stationary waves.
J. Climate 14 (7), 1450-1465.

 
Page maintained by Ralf Greve
Last modified: 2010-01-28