Coupling ice sheets into climate models for self consistent sea level projections: progress and challenges

Ice sheet response to forced changes - such as that from anthropogenic climate forcing - is closely regulated by two-way interactions with other components of the Earth system. These interactions encompass the ice sheet response to Earth system forcing, the Earth system response to ice sheet change, and feedbacks resulting from coupled ice-sheet/Earth system evolution. Motivated by the impact of Antarctic and Greenland ice sheet change on future sea level rise, in this talk Jeremy will describe: 1) the state of knowledge of ice-sheet/Earth system interactions and feedbacks and, 2) progress and challenges in coupling ice sheet models into Earth System Models. Such models will be important tools for self-consistent projections of future ice sheet-driven sea level rise.

About the speaker:
Dr. Jeremy Fyke is a climate scientist working at Associated Environmental, a subsidiary of Associated Engineering, where he helps to inform decision makers about climate impacts on a wide range of projects. Prior to this, he was at the Center for Ocean, Sea Ice and Land Ice Modeling, in the Theoretical Division of Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico. There he was involved in the development and use of the Community Earth System Model (CESM), the Accelerated Climate Model for Energy (ACME), the University Earth System Model (UVic ESCM) and the Cumulative Emissions Projection Model (CEPM). He is a Topical Editor at Geoscientific Model Development and was Scientific Liaison for the CESM Land Ice Working Group.