Glacier Modelling
Our modelling programme is helping with investigations into the way Southern Hemisphere glaciers respond to past, present and future climatic changes.
This work is unique in New Zealand. It fills a gap in the understanding of Southern Hemisphere cryosphere - an area noted by the 2013 AR5 report of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change as lacking knowledge.
Current Projects
Modelling the response of New Zealand glaciers to recent and future climate change
This group is supported by a subcontract (NIWA Regional Climate Modelling Core funding) to understand recent glacier fluctuations and climate change, in order to help predict the future of the New Zealand glaciers and their impact on water resources.
To date, this work has included:
- detailed field measurements on Brewster, Franz Josef, Tasman and Cameron glaciers applications of models to these glaciers, and the entire Southern Alps
- examination of present-day precipitation and temperature records for improved downscaling of climate models
- coupling climate-glacier models with predictive ability.
- Coupling of our glacier model to NIWA's 'TOPNET' hydrological model.
Modelling of Southern Hemisphere ice age glaciers
We are supported by the Marsden Fund and the Comer Science and Education Foundation to simulate glaciers in New Zealand during the last glacial cycle.
The project sets out to help create a new and abiding Ice Age theory that is capable of explaining why Southern Hemisphere glaciations are nearly synchronised with those of the North, in spite of apparent asynchronous (orbital) forcing.
Collaborators include GNS Science, NIWA, The University of Maine, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Harvard University, the University of Chicago, the University of Wales and University of Alaska.
Work to date has included:
- a study of the Franz Josef glacier and simulation of its advance to the Waiho Loop moraine
- an application of the Parallel Ice Sheet model to the central Southern Alps
- applications of our glacier model to various glaciers in the Southern Alps and central North Island volcanoes
Modelling of Antarctic ice sheet retreat processes
We are supported by the MBIE 'Past Antarctic Climates' programme to investigate the climatic drivers of ice sheet retreat.
To date, we have carried out a detailed simulation of East Antarctic Ice Sheet retreat to climate and sea level forcing.
Work in progress includes a fine-grid Parallel Ice Sheet model simulation of the Antarctic ice sheets and Transantarctic Mountains outlet glaciers. We are also building a coupled ocean-atmosphere-landsuface-model (UVIC ESM) for simulating the future of ice sheets in Antarctica and Greenland. This is a current growth area and future work will include a fuller treatment of grounding line processes and near-and far field sea level.
Collaborators include University of Victoria (British Columbia), Pennsylvania State University, The University of Massachusetts, Stanford University, Hamilton College and Colgate University.