EAPSI: Parameterizing the Two Phase Nature of Platelet Ice for use in Numerical Models that Simulate Sea Ice, Ice Shelves, and Icy Moons

海冰、冰架和冰卫星的演变对于理解极地如何影响地球至关重要。美国的气候和海洋动力学，以及揭示冰冷卫星的演化和潜在的可居住性。对这些实体进行建模的一个难点是浮冰和海底海洋之间复杂的界面。血小板冰的特点是在冰架下面形成的冰碎片漂浮到这个界面上，形成固态和液态的浆液，需要复杂的物理学来准确描述它的演变。血小板冰的研究领域还很年轻，虽然它开始被纳入海冰模型，但没有冰架或冰卫星的模型包括这种现象。娜塔莉·罗宾逊博士是惠灵顿国家水与大气研究所的研究员，她走在血小板冰研究的前沿。这个合作项目将利用罗宾逊博士？丰富的血小板冰形成和性质知识，将血小板冰积累的物理特性纳入现有的多相模型中，用于模拟冰架和冰卫星；生成第一个包含这些动态的模型。该项目将修改现有的有限差分模型，通过结合糊状层理论的物理特性来模拟浮冰的两相性质。血小板冰形成和特征的额外参数化将加强该模型准确模拟各种地球和地外环境基本过程的能力。主要的补充将是血小板聚集发生的倾向和基于当地海洋参数的血小板堆积层的孔隙度。与Robinson博士的合作将允许血小板层特征的经验观察迅速纳入冰-海洋界面的数值模型，该模型为纳入气候，海洋和冰卫星系统模型做好了准备。该奖项由美国国家科学基金会和新西兰皇家学会共同资助，隶属于东亚和太平洋暑期研究所项目，支持一名美国研究生进行暑期研究。

The evolution of sea ice, ice shelves, and icy moons is crucial to understanding how polar regions affect Earth?s climate and ocean dynamics, and unraveling the evolution and potential habitability of icy moons. One difficulty in modeling these entities is the complex interface between the floating ice and the underlying ocean. Platelet ice is characterized by shards of ice forming below ice shelves that float up to this interface creating a slurry of both solid and liquid phases, necessitating complex physics to accurately describe its evolution. The field of platelet ice research is young, and while it is beginning to be incorporated into models of sea ice, no models of ice shelves or icy moons include the phenomenon. Dr. Natalie Robinson, a researcher for the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research in Wellington, is at the forefront of platelet ice research. This collaborative project will utilize Dr. Robinson?s extensive knowledge of platelet ice formation and properties to incorporate the physics of accumulating platelet ice into an existing multiphase model used to simulate ice shelves and icy moons; producing the first model that includes these dynamics.This project will modify an existing finite difference model used to simulate the two-phase nature of floating ice by incorporating the physics of mushy layer theory. The additional parameterization of the platelet ice formation and characteristics will strengthen this models ability to accurately simulate the basal processes of a variety of terrestrial and extraterrestrial environments. The main additions will be the propensity for platelet accretion to occur and the porosity of an accumulated platelet layer based on local ocean parameters. Collaboration with Dr. Robinson will allow for empirical observations of platelet layer characteristics to be quickly incorporated into a numerical model of ice-ocean interfaces that is primed for incorporation into climate, ocean, and icy moon systems models.This award under the East Asia and Pacific Summer Institutes program supports summer research by a U.S. graduate student and is jointly funded by NSF and the Royal Society of New Zealand.