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 three operational geometry evolution models:

OGGM-VAS is a complete python re-write of Ben Marzeion’s 2012 model. It should be equivalent to the original matlab model, but follows the OGGM syntax very closely (and uses OGGM for data pre- and post-processing). See Moritz Oberrauch’s thesis for more information.

The Mass redistribution curve model is an implementation of the “delta-h” model by Huss & Hock (2015) and Rounce et al., (2020). It works quite well for short simulations of the glacier retreat phase.

The default geometry evolution model in OGGM is the Ice dynamics flowline model (default). We also have a distributed SIA model to play around, but nothing operational yet.