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Title: Albany/FELIX: A parallel, scalable and robust, finite element, first-order Stokes approximation ice sheet solver built for advanced analysis

Journal Article · · Geoscientific Model Development (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3]
  1. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
  2. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

This paper describes a new parallel, scalable and robust finite element based solver for the first-order Stokes momentum balance equations for ice flow. The solver, known as Albany/FELIX, is constructed using the component-based approach to building application codes, in which mature, modular libraries developed as a part of the Trilinos project are combined using abstract interfaces and template-based generic programming, resulting in a final code with access to dozens of algorithmic and advanced analysis capabilities. Following an overview of the relevant partial differential equations and boundary conditions, the numerical methods chosen to discretize the ice flow equations are described, along with their implementation. The results of several verification studies of the model accuracy are presented using (1) new test cases for simplified two-dimensional (2-D) versions of the governing equations derived using the method of manufactured solutions, and (2) canonical ice sheet modeling benchmarks. Model accuracy and convergence with respect to mesh resolution are then studied on problems involving a realistic Greenland ice sheet geometry discretized using hexahedral and tetrahedral meshes. Also explored as a part of this study is the effect of vertical mesh resolution on the solution accuracy and solver performance. The robustness and scalability of our solver on these problems is demonstrated. Lastly, we show that good scalability can be achieved by preconditioning the iterative linear solver using a new algebraic multilevel preconditioner, constructed based on the idea of semi-coarsening.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF); Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), Albuquerque, NM, and Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396; AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1208879
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1214225
Journal Information:
Geoscientific Model Development (Online), Vol. 8, Issue 4; ISSN 1991-9603
Publisher:
European Geosciences UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 40 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (17)

LIVVkit 2.1: automated and extensible ice sheet model validation journal January 2019
Exploring basal sliding with a fluidity-based, ice-sheet model using FOSLS: Fluidity-Based Ice-Sheet Models journal March 2018
A Study on the Performance Portability of the Finite Element Assembly Process Within the Albany Land Ice Solver book February 2020
MPAS-Albany Land Ice (MALI): a variable-resolution ice sheet model for Earth system modeling using Voronoi grids journal January 2018
A comparison of two Stokes ice sheet models applied to the Marine Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for plan view models (MISMIP3d) journal January 2017
Optimal Compressed Sensing and Reconstruction of Unstructured Mesh Datasets journal August 2017
An automated approach for parallel adjoint-based error estimation and mesh adaptation journal December 2019
Description and evaluation of the Community Ice Sheet Model (CISM) v2.1 journal January 2019
A comparison of two Stokes ice sheet models applied to the Marine Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project for plan view models (MISMIP3d) posted_content March 2016
Widespread moulin formation during supraglacial lake drainages in Greenland text January 2018
Accurate and stable time stepping in ice sheet modeling journal January 2017
Galerkin Least-Squares Stabilization in Ice Sheet Modeling - Accuracy, Robustness, and Comparison to other Techniques text January 2017
The LifeV library: engineering mathematics beyond the proof of concept preprint January 2017
An ice sheet model validation framework for the Greenland ice sheet journal January 2017
Interactive comment on “An ice sheet model validation framework for the Greenland ice sheet” by Stephen F. Price et al. journal August 2016
ISMIP6 Antarctica: a multi-model ensemble of the Antarctic ice sheet evolution over the 21st century journal January 2020
Diagnosing the sensitivity of grounding-line flux to changes in sub-ice-shelf melting journal October 2020

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