Modelling Ocean Melting of the Antarctic Ice Sheet

英国南极调查局的科学家使用热水钻探和自动水下航行器来观察冰架下的海洋情况。最近在理论和计算机模拟方面的进展利用这些观测结果加深了我们对控制冰川融化的海洋过程的理解。这项研究的目的是改善这种融化在气候模型中的表现，以便改善对海平面上升的预测。即使在速度最快的超级计算机上，气候模型也不能以足够高的分辨率运行，以解决所有控制融化的海洋过程。相反，熔化必须包括在模型中，使用基本物理过程的简化表示法。学生将在最先进的海洋模型中测试和改进这些表示法。

Scientists from the British Antarctic Survey have used hot-water drilling and autonomous underwater vehicles to observe ocean conditions beneath ice shelves. Recent advances in theoretical and computer modelling have used these observations to develop our understanding of the ocean processes controlling ice melting. The aim of this studentship is to improve the representation of this melting in climate models, in order to improve projections of sea level rise. Even on the fastest supercomputers, climate models cannot be run at a resolution high enough to resolve all of the ocean processes controlling melting. Melting must instead be included in the models using simplified representations of the underlying physical processes. The student will test and improve these representations in a state-of-the-art ocean model.