Performance analysis of high-resolution ice-sheet simulations

Abstract Numerical glacier and ice-sheet models compute evolving ice geometry velocity fields using various stress-balance approximations boundary conditions. At high spatial resolution, with horizontal mesh/grid resolutions of a few kilometers or smaller, these usually require time steps shorter than climate-coupling scales because they update thickness after each solution. High-resolution performance is degraded by the stability restrictions such explicit time-stepping. This short note, which considers shallow approximation Stokes as end members, clarifies scaling numerical model quantifying simulation cost per year in terms mesh resolution number degrees freedom. The current-generation time-stepping assessed, then compared to prospective implicit schemes. main results highlight key roles played algorithmic solvers coupled, implicit-step solvers.