Modelling of Ice Flow

The most efficient description of ice flow involves continuum mechanics. From elementary continuum mechanics to ice-sheet models for climate studies is a long way, at least if one desires to go step by step through all required simplifications. A climate modeler wishing to design a dynamical system that describes the response of an ice sheet to changes in environmental conditions may follow another route: by looking carefully at proxy data on the transient behaviour of ice sheets, at present-day measurements, and at output from sophisticated models, a lot of corner cutting can be done. Familiarity with some basic theory of dynamical systems combined with physical intuition may lead to efficient model building. One should not consider this style as inferior.