Computer simulation of glacial erosion

A computer simulation of glacial erosion in Sierra Nevada, Spain. In the simulation the snow line altitude is lowered to 2000 m and glaciers appear. With time, the glaciers erode the landscape and a negative feedback between the topographic evolution and mass balance causes the glaciers to retreat.
The glacially eroded landscape contains classical glacial landforms, such as over-deepened U-shaped valleys, hanging valleys and cirques. The glaciers also form low relief landscapes at elevations corresponding to the snow line altitude. These low relief landscapes are associated with "the glacial buzzsaw" which, in turn, limits the height of mountain ranges globally. Visit Nature.com (doi:10.1038/nature08263, http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v460/n7257/abs/nature08263.html ) for more information.
David L. Egholm, Aarhus University

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Glacier
• Landscape
• Erosion
• Valleys
• U-shaped
• Cirques
• Glacial
• Buzzsaw
• Computer
• Simulation

[arct5580watson]

Hi! This looks great. Can I ask what software you used to create this simulation? Cheers!

[lundbekegholm]

Thanks arct5580watson. The simulation of ice flow and erosion was made using a research computer code created at Aarhus University. The frames for the animation were generated by Matlab and merged into a movie using ffmpeg under Linux.

cheers, david

[1Mperios]

@Reality9O

Correct, the glaciers/ice widen, deepen and straighten the path when they thaw through the process of plucking and abrasion.

[Reality9O]

So.. I dont fully get it, a normal mountainrange, ice/snow comes and then leaves, making everything more sharp looking?

[alainvig]

Interesting, whats the algorithm called ?

[arct5580watson]

Thanks for the info David. I'm trying to simulate coastal erosion and it seems like there is very little publicly available software... maybe you know of some? Awesome to see all this research-developed stuff anyway.

- J