High-resolution large-scale model for sea ice dynamics

Forecasts of sea-ice motion and deformation are crucial for maritime operations including winter navigation and offshore wind energy harvesting. Further, sea-ice models have a key role in predictions on long-term effects of climate change. In this study we utilize the Helsinki Discrete Element Model (HiDEM) to simulate sea-ice breakup and dynamics. HiDEM code is optimized for high-performance supercomputers and achieves superior temporal and spatial resolutions when compared to conventionally used continuum models. We compare simulated fracture patterns and ice motion with satellite images from the Kvarken region of the Baltic Sea and show that HiDEM reproduces observed ice deformation patterns, which formed over a period of few days in nature. The results closely match the observed ice fracture and motion patterns, floe sizes, ridge structures, and fast-ice regions. The simulations cover an area of about 100 km × 100 km with 8 m resolution and they completed in about 10 hours of wall clock time.