Why Icebergs and their Interactions with Sea Ice Should Be Included in Earth System Models?

Thirty-three researchers from France, Australia, Belgium, Canada, the UK, and Germany gathered in Paris for a two-day hybrid workshop (3–4 June 2025) to discuss iceberg–sea ice interactions and their representation in Earth system models. Icebergs and sea ice are two distinct forms of drifting ice, typically represented usingdifferent modelling approaches. Icebergs — relatively small in horizontal extent (500 m - 50 km long) but up to 700 m thick — calve from continental ice shelves and marine terminating glaciers and are modelled as Lagrangian particles. In contrast, sea ice, forming from the freezing of seawater, covers vast areas, spanning thousands of kilometers, but is much thinner (about 1 m thick), and modelled as a two-dimensional continuum. Current Earth system models generally assume that sea ice–iceberg interactions are negligible. However, mounting evidence indicates that processes essential to Antarctic sea ice and ocean dynamics — such as landfast sea ice and coastal polynyas — arise from dynamic iceberg–sea ice interactions. Several Earth system modeling groups are actively addressing these interactions, resulting in a series of recent studies on icebergs, sea ice, and their interplay, which motivated the workshop.Presentations from 13 invited speakers, covering modelling and observational perspectives, formed the basis of discussions around the following themes:- Iceberg, sea ice, and their interactions; - Implications for the ocean; - Perspectives on numerical and computational model infrastructure.

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Publication Details

Journal
Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Published
2025-12-22
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1175/bams-d-25-0322.1
Primary Topic
Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Why Icebergs and their Interactions with Sea Ice Should Be Included in Earth System Models?

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Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
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Why Icebergs and their Interactions with Sea Ice Should Be Included in Earth System Models?

Daniel P Atwater, Katherine Hutchinson, Carolin Mehlmann, Pierre Rampal, Pat Wongpan, Martin Vancoppenolle, Juliana M. Marson, Casimir de Lavergne, Yavor Kostov, Anna Olivé Abelló, Alex Brearley, Gurvan Madec, Noé Pirlet, Alexander D. Fraser, Michelle Noël, Christophe Billy, Emmanuelle Lemaire, Pierre Mathiot, Jean‐Baptiste Sallée, Esther Ortega, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Paul R. Holland, François Massonnet, Clara Burgard, Evéa Piedagnel, Max Thomas, Clément Rousset, Jean‐Claude Petit, T. Fichefet, Jacquemine Delfieu
article en

Abstract

Thirty-three researchers from France, Australia, Belgium, Canada, the UK, and Germany gathered in Paris for a two-day hybrid workshop (3–4 June 2025) to discuss iceberg–sea ice interactions and their representation in Earth system models. Icebergs and sea ice are two distinct forms of drifting ice, typically represented usingdifferent modelling approaches. Icebergs — relatively small in horizontal extent (500 m - 50 km long) but up to 700 m thick — calve from continental ice shelves and marine terminating glaciers and are modelled as Lagrangian particles. In contrast, sea ice, forming from the freezing of seawater, covers vast areas, spanning thousands of kilometers, but is much thinner (about 1 m thick), and modelled as a two-dimensional continuum. Current Earth system models generally assume that sea ice–iceberg interactions are negligible. However, mounting evidence indicates that processes essential to Antarctic sea ice and ocean dynamics — such as landfast sea ice and coastal polynyas — arise from dynamic iceberg–sea ice interactions. Several Earth system modeling groups are actively addressing these interactions, resulting in a series of recent studies on icebergs, sea ice, and their interplay, which motivated the workshop.Presentations from 13 invited speakers, covering modelling and observational perspectives, formed the basis of discussions around the following themes:- Iceberg, sea ice, and their interactions; - Implications for the ocean; - Perspectives on numerical and computational model infrastructure.

Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society
Met Office (GB), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), British Antarctic Survey (GB), Australian Antarctic Division (AU), Sorbonne Université (FR), Centre National de Recherches Météorologiques (FR), Institut National de Recherche pour l'Agriculture, l'Alimentation et l'Environnement (FR), Institut des Géosciences de l'Environnement (FR), University Hospital Magdeburg (DE), Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal (DE), Laboratoire d'Océanographie et du Climat : Expérimentations et Approches Numériques (FR), Exeter Hospital (GB), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR), Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies, University of Manitoba (CA), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR), UCLouvain (BE)
Government of the United Kingdom, UK Research and Innovation, European Commission, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme
Openalex Percentile: Top 57%
Arctic and Antarctic ice dynamics
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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