NEMOSID · Next-generation Modeling of Sedimentary Ice-sheet Dynamics
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2020-07-01 → 2022-06-30
- EU contribution
- €219,312
- Participants
- 1
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Next-generation Modeling of Sedimentary Ice-sheet Dynamics
The ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland contribute to the global sea level, but their contribution to future sea-level trends are highly uncertain. The uncertainty comes from limitations in observational data coverage, lack of complete understanding of some glacial processes, and simplifications and approximations used in the computational tools we use today for projecting ice flow in the coming centuries. The NEMOSID project focused on one of the missing processes: fast ice movement occurs on deformable sediments. From the geological record, ice-driven sediment transport can dramatically change the Earth's surface on parts covered by ice during past glaciations. Some of the key objectives of the NEMOSID project were: 1) What controls the amount of transported sediment by ice flow? 2) How can we include sediment transport in ice-sheet models? 3) What are the effects of sediment transport on ice-sheet sensitivity to sea-level rise?
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Global sea level changes are grand humanitarian challenges in the 21st century and beyond. The biggest contributor and uncertainty to sea-level projections is dynamical ice-mass loss from the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Fast-moving ice primarily flows by sliding over weak and water-saturated sedimentary deposits that are reshaped into undulations and depositional wedges in the process.Current ice-sheet models do not account for transport of sediment under ice, and commonly assume that basal friction increases if ice flow accelerates. In this project I propose to address these shortcomings by deriving a realistic coupled framework for glacier ice, water and sediment. The sediment model is constrained by laboratory experiments and is coupled to a new model of subglacial hydrology. The ice-water-sediment model is compared to landforms and sedimentary deposits from previous glaciations, as well as contemporary ice sheet flow patterns. The framework allows analysis of climate-perturbation sensitivity, with particular investigation into the dynamical evolution of ice flow and basal environment. By incorporating previously neglected processes, the developed model framework will improve the accuracy of predicted global-mean sea-level change in the future.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- AARHUS UNIVERSITET · Aarhus CCoordinatorDenmark
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union