Verification, Validation, and Solution Quality in Computational Physics: CFD Methods Applied to Ice Sheet Physics

There are procedures and methods for verification of coding algebra and for validations of models and calculations that are in use in the aerospace computational fluid dynamics (CFD) community. These methods would be efficacious if used by the glacier dynamics modeling community. This paper is a presentation of some of those methods, and how they might be applied to uncertainty management supporting code verification and model validation for glacier dynamics. The similarities and differences between their use in CFD analysis and the proposed application of these methods to glacier modeling are discussed. After establishing sources of uncertainty and methods for code verification, the paper looks at a representative sampling of verification and validation efforts that are underway in the glacier modeling community, and establishes a context for these within an overall solution quality assessment. Finally, a vision of a new information architecture and interactive scientific interface is introduced and advocated. By example, this Integrated Science Exploration Environment is proposed for exploring and managing sources of uncertainty in glacier modeling codes and methods, and for supporting scientific numerical exploration and verification. The details, use, and envisioned functionality of this Environment are described. Such an architecture, that manages scientific numerical experiments and data analysis, would promote the exploration and publishing of error definition and evolution as an integral part of the computational flow physics results. Then, those results could ideally be presented concurrently in the scientific literature, facilitating confidence modeling results.