A particle-in-cell model for ice edge forecasting

A particle-in-cell sea ice model is extended to include thermodynamic growth and melt. The Lagrangian particle representation improves ice edge resolution over that achieved using fixed-grid advection schemes, without substantially increasing the computational cost. Previous tests have ignored thermodynamics and focused only on changes in ice edge position due to advection. The extended model presented includes ice edge evolution due to growth and melt as is illustrated by idealized tests representative of springtime conditions off the east coast of Canada