Generation of Analysis Suitable Geometry from Discrete Data Sets: Ice Sheets of Antarctica
April 23, 2010
2:30 p.m.
Nathan Collier
Abstract
This talk will discuss available data for the geometric modeling of the ice sheets of Antarctica. These geometries are a key part of an effort [1,2] to model the sheet’s flow over the continent, of particular interest due to concerns of environmental change and potentially rising ocean levels. Extensive airborne geophysical surveys in the West Antarctic Ice Sheet have incorporated ice penetrating radar and laser altimetry to produce a set of discrete points of both the ice surface and thickness. The challenge is to use this data to produce a representation that can be used in solvers which will model the ice flow. However, the data has gaps and holes which make conventional surface fitting techniques fail. This talk is intended to be a presentation of the challenges in the data, an overview of the current methodology employed, and an open discussion about potential solutions. [1] Burstedde, Ghattas, Stadler, Tu, & Wilcox. Parallel scalable adjoint-based adaptive solution of variable-viscosity Stokes flow problems. Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering, 2009, 198, 1691-1700 [2] Dynamics of Ice Sheets: Advanced Simulation Models, Large-Scale Data Inversion, and Quantification of Uncertainty in Sea Level Rise Projections (http://www.ig.utexas.edu/research/projects/iceSheetDynamics/)