CMG: Landscape/Ice-Sheet Self-Organization

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The terrain shaped by former ice sheets provides clues about important, poorly understood conditions and processes at the base of ice masses. These conditions control how fast ice sheets build up, move, and store water, and how they respond to, and participate in, global climate change. Areas that were formerly under ice sheets tend to be strikingly scoured in the direction of ice flow and often feature highly streamlined hills (drumlins). This research project studies the spontaneous emergence of such distinctive landforms from the dynamic interaction of moving ice, water, and sediment over large spatial and temporal scales. The goal of the project is to develop a detailed mathematical model as a tool to better understand the spontaneous production of drumlins and other characteristic landforms produced by ice sheets. This research project, an example of mathematical modeling of large, complex geosystems, promises to advance understanding of basal processes and conditions that affect ice sheet response to, and participation in, global climate. This response has direct practical consequences, ranging from changes in sea level to changes in hydrology, with worldwide effects on the large segments of humanity residing in coastal areas or relying on alpine glaciers for fresh water sources. The work will improve our understanding of glacially produced terrain, of basal processes and conditions, and more generally, of the interdependence of ice sheets and the earth climate system.