Computational Ice-Divide Analysis of a Cold Plane Ice Sheet Under Steady Conditions

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Abstract
The dimensionless form of the field equations and boundary conditions governing plane flow of a grounded cold ice sheet emerge from balance statements of mass, momentum, and energy. They constitute an amended version of a reduced model of ice-sheet flow, due to Morland (1984) and Hutter (1983), and circumvent the restrictions imposed by the reduced model, namely the neglect of the longitudinal stretching effects. The amended version permits satisfaction of mass balance at the ice divide for arbitrary basal sliding conditions and gives a better reproduction of the local flow features. Under very mild simplifying assumptions, namely that horizontal thermal conduction can be ignored close to the divide, we present a numerical analysis of the ice divide which has second-order accuracy. This analysis permits determination of the temperature profile, velocity, and stress distributions in a symmetric ice divide, provided that the ice-divide height, the local behavior of the accumulation and surface-temperature functions, and the geothermal heat flow are prescribed.

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