CESM Land Ice Working Group

The primary objectives of the Land Ice Working Group (LIWG) are (1) to couple a well validated, fully dynamical ice sheet model to the CESM, and (2) to determine the likely range of decade-to-century-scale sea-level rise associated with the loss of land ice.

The ice sheet model will initially be the open-source Glimmer model, but efforts are underway to improve its dynamical core. This enhanced ice sheet model will be referred to as the Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM) and will function in both standalone and coupled modes. CISM modeling activities will include the large-scale simulation of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, as well as finer-resolution modeling of mountain glaciers, ice caps, and outlet glaciers with the potential to alter sea level.

To better understand interactions between ice sheets and other parts of the climate system, the LIWG interacts closely with other working groups, including the Climate Change, Land Model, Ocean Model, Polar Climate, and Paleoclimate groups. Like other working groups, the LIWG meets twice a year: once at the annual CESM workshop in June and once during the winter.

Upcoming Meetings

Land Ice Working Group Meeting
14 - 15 February 2013, NCAR, Boulder, CO [agenda] [participants]

18th Annual CESM Workshop
The 18th Annual CESM Workshop will be held at The Village at Breckenridge, Breckenridge, CO, 17 - 20 June 2013. [register] [event details] [agenda]

Review archives of past meeting agendas and reports.

LIWG Projects

Active areas of ice sheet model research include:

  • development and testing of higher-order momentum balance, including scalable solvers
  • improved parameterizations of key physical processes such as basal hydrology and iceberg calving
  • formulation of experiments for assessment of decade-to-century-scale sea-level rise
  • dynamic coupling of ice-sheet models to ocean models

Additional information can be found by visiting the Community Ice Sheet Model development pages housed at the University of Montanta and Los Alamos National Laboratory.

LIWG Community Liaison:

Stephen Price is the LIWG Liaison. [email]

Co-Chair Contact Information:

Dr. Jesse Johnson
Department of Computer Science, Social Science Building, Room 417, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812-5256
Tel: 406.243.2356, Fax: 406.243.5139, e-mail: jesse.johnson@mso.umt.edu

Dr. William Lipscomb
LANL, Climate, Ocean and Sea Ice Modeling, Group T-3, MS B216, Los Alamos, NM 87545
Tel: 505.667.0395, Fax: 505.665.5926, e-mail: lipscomb@lanl.gov

CESM Project

The Community Earth System Model (CESM) is a fully-coupled, global climate model that provides state-of-the-art computer simulations of the Earth's past, present, and future climate states.

CESM is sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). Administration of the CESM is maintained by the Climate and Global Dynamics Division (CGD) at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

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Contact Information