Geometry evolution models

Geometry evolution models are responsible to compute the change in glacier geometry as a response to the climatic mass balance forcing computed with the Mass balance models. They are also in charge of reporting diagnostic variables such as length, area, volume. Depending on the model’s complexity, they can also report about ice velocity, ice thickness, etc.

Currently, OGGM has four geometry evolution models:

• Ice dynamics flowline model (default): the default!

• Instructed Glacier Model (IGM): the future!

• Mass redistribution curve model: an implementation of the “delta-h” model by Huss & Hock (2015). It works quite well for short simulations of the glacier retreat phase.

• OGGM-VAS (volume-area scaling): a python re-write of Ben Marzeion’s 2012 model. See Moritz Oberrauch’s thesis for more information.