Courtney Shafer: Research – University at Buffalo Glacier Modeling Lab

Hi! My name is Courtney Shafer, I’m a first-year, first-generation PhD student at the University at Buffalo working with Dr. Kristin Poinar on building a model that will predict the formation and evolution of moulins on the Greenland Ice Sheet. I’m also a recipient of the 2021 DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship. With their support, I hope to extend the capability of the moulin model to work with large, deterministic ice sheet models.

Prior to coming to Buffalo, I worked with Dr. Dan Martin at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on ice sheet modeling using the BISICLES (https://commons.lbl.gov/display/bisicles/BISICLES) ice sheet model. I was specifically interested in how BISICLES handled different approximations to the Stokes equations (Shallow Shelf Approximation, Shallow Ice Approximation, L1L2, etc.) and how model results using these approximations compared with each other. Approximations in ice sheet modeling are a necessary part of modeling since solving a full system model is usually computationally heavy. Ice sheet model comparisons seek to understand these differences between models and are an integral part of confirming the efficacy of these models.

I’ve investigated the BISICLES contribution to both the MISMIP3D and MISMIP+ intercomparison projects to see how the SSA approximation compares with the L1L2 approximation.

Poster-for-Research

Moulins are large vertical tunnels that transport meltwater from the surface down to the bed of an ice sheet, and the water that reaches the bed can then lubricate the ice and has a direct impact on the overall dynamics of ice sheet flow. Current ice sheet models lack the physics needed to describe these intricate processes, which is necessary for ensuring accurate predictions of ice sheet flow and, ultimately, sea-level rise. This is an important puzzle to solve, especially as surface melt rates continue to grow in tandem with a warming climate.

September 2022

I was fortunate enough to be a part of the Follow the Water group and participated in fieldwork on Helheim glacier from September 2nd to September 15th.