Inside the Ice: Insights from Thermo-Mechanically Coupled Modeling of 
High-Elevation Regions of the Greenland Ice Sheet


Under climate change, glaciers and ice sheets may significantly 
contribute to sea level rise.  To prepare for such dramatic changes, 
reliable predictions are important.  As observations become more 
plentiful through remote sensing and numerical models become more 
sophisticated, a clear priority of the ice sheet modeling community is 
to compare model simulations with observations.  Temperature and 
velocity conditions within the Greenland ice sheet and at the bed 
remain largely unknown with the exception of sparse borehole 
measurements, but much can be inferred from rigorous 
thermo-mechanically coupled modeling, and plausible velocity and 
temperature profiles can be generated for the Greenland ice sheet 
interior that can serve as upper boundary conditions for simulations 
on lower-elevation domains, such as the outer regions of the ice sheet 
where englacial and subglacial hydrology are important.  I will 
discuss methods and present numerous insights from the simulations.  
Of particular interest is the relative influence of different 
parameters, such as bedrock topography, geothermal flux, and 
enhancement factor for ice older than the Wisconsin-Holocene 
transition.  Useful results include plausible velocity and temperature 
profiles for widespread regions of the interior of the Greenland ice 
sheet, along with the resulting maps of temperate ice thickness.