DOE OSTI · 3375460
Results of the second Ice Shelf–Ocean Model Intercomparison Project (ISOMIP+)
Abstract
Ocean-driven basal melting of Antarctic ice shelves plays an important role in the mass loss of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Ice shelf cavity-resolving ocean models are a valuable tool for understanding ice shelf-ocean interactions and for simulating projections of ice shelf and ocean states under future climate. Designed to assess the current state of ice shelf–ocean modelling, the second Ice Shelf–Ocean Model Intercomparison Project, ISOMIP+, consists of 12 ocean model configurations submitted with a common, idealised experimental setup. Here, we focus on the experiments Ocean0–2 (Asay-Davis et al., 2016), which are ocean models with idealised, static ice shelf geometries, but where the ocean reaches a balance with prescribed far-field ocean conditions. Different thermal transfer coefficient values (ranging from 0.011 to 0.2) are used for each model in the melting parameterisation to achieve a common, tuned melt rate since the models cover a range of types of vertical coordinates, ice–ocean boundary layer treatments, and numerical schemes. These model differences lead to spread in the resultant ocean properties, circulation, boundary-layer structure and spatial distribution of melting. We also highlight similarities between models, such as a shared linear relationship across most models between melt rate and overturning and barotropic streamfunctions during the spin-up and spin-down, demonstrating a robust relationship between melt and circulation across models and forcing conditions. The ISOMIP+ results provide a systematic comparison of ice shelf cavity-capable ocean models. However, we also demonstrate the need for realistic ice shelf–ocean model intercomparison projects (some already underway) to assess model biases and inter-model variation against sparse observations. Further research is needed to understand the differences between models and further improve our modelled representations of the ice–ocean boundary layer and ice shelf cavity circulation.
Explore related subjects
Keep this discovery
Explore connections, maps & timelines
Yung, Claire K. [Australian National Univ., Canberra (Australia)] (ORCID:0000000200527668), Asay-Davis, Xylar Storm [Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)] (ORCID:000000021990892X), Adcroft, Alistair [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)], Bull, Christopher Y. S. [Australian National Univ., Canberra (Australia)], De Rydt, Jan [Northumbria Univ., Newcastle (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000229788706), Dinniman, Michael S. [Old Dominion Univ., Norfolk, VA (United States)] (ORCID:0000000175199278), Galton-Fenzi, Benjamin K. [Australian Antarctic Division, TAS (Australia); Univ. of Tasmania, Hobart, TAS (Australia)] (ORCID:0000000314044103), Goldberg, Daniel [Univ. of Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000191304461), Gwyther, David E. [Univ. of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD (Australia)] (ORCID:0000000272182785), Hallberg, Robert [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States); National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Princeton, NJ (United States). Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory], Harrison, Matthew [National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Princeton, NJ (United States). Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory] (ORCID:000000017991454X), Hattermann, Tore [Norwegian Polar Inst. (Norway)] (ORCID:0000000255382267), Holland, David M. [New York Univ. (NYU), NY (United States)], Holland, Denise [New York Univ. (NYU), NY (United States)], Holland, Paul R. [British Antarctic Survey, Cambridge (United Kingdom)], Jordan, James R. [Swansea Univ. (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000181171976), Jourdain, Nicolas C. [Univ. of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble (France)] (ORCID:0000000213722235), Kusahara, Kazuya [Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), Yokohama (Japan)] (ORCID:0000000340677959), Marques, Gustavo [National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), Boulder, CO (United States)] (ORCID:0000000172380290), Mathiot, Pierre [Univ. of Grenoble Alpes, Grenoble (France)], Menemenlis, Dimitris [San Jose State Univ., CA (United States)], Morrison, Adele K. [Australian National Univ., Canberra (Australia)], Nakayama, Yoshihiro [Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United States); Hokkaido Univ., Sapporo (Japan)], Sergienko, Olga [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)] (ORCID:0000000257648815), Smith, Robin S. [Univ. of Reading (United Kingdom)] (ORCID:0000000174797778), Stern, Alon [Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)], Timmermann, Ralph [Alfred Wegener Inst. for Polar and Marine Research, Bremerhaven (Germany)], Zhou, Qin [Akvaplan-niva AS (Norway)] (ORCID:0009000213409625). 2026-04-13. Results of the second Ice Shelf–Ocean Model Intercomparison Project (ISOMIP+). https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-20-2053-2026
Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.