Initialization of a full-Stokes finite element model of the Greenland ice-sheet using inverse methods

About a third of the current sea level rise is attributed to the release of Greenland and Antarctic ice, and their respective contribution is continuously increasing since the first diagnostic of the acceleration of their coastal outlet glaciers, a decade ago. Due to their related societal implications, good scenario of the ice sheets evolutions are needed to constrain the sea level rise forecast in the coming centuries. The quality of the model predictions depend primary on the good description of the physical processes involved and on a good initial state reproducing the main present observations (geometry, surface velocities and ideally the trend in elevation change). We model ice dynamics on the whole Greenland ice sheet using the full-Stokes finite element code Elmer. The finite element mesh is generated using the anisotropic mesh adaptation tool YAMS, and shows a high density around the major ice streams. For the initial state, we use an iterative procedure to compute the ice velocities, the temperature field, and the basal sliding coefficient field. The basal sliding coefficient is obtained with an inverse method by minimizing a cost function that measures the misfit between the present day surface velocities and the modelled surface velocities. We use two inverse methods for this: an inverse Robin problem recently proposed by Arthern and Gudmundsson (J. Glaciol. 2010), and a control method taking advantage of the fact that the Stokes equations are self adjoint in the particular case of a Newtonian rheology. From the initial states obtained by these two methods, we run transient simulations to evaluate the impact of the initial state of the Greenland ice sheet onto its related contribution to sea level rise for the next centuries.