Current state and future perspectives on coupled ice-sheet – sea-level modelling

The interaction between ice-sheet growth and retreat and sea-level change has been an established fieldof research for many years. However, recent advances in numerical modelling have shed new light on theprecise interaction of marine ice sheets with the change in near-field sea level, and the related stability ofthe grounding line position. Studies using fully coupled ice-sheet e sea-level models have shown thataccounting for gravitationally self-consistent sea-level change will act to slow down the retreat andadvance of marine ice-sheet grounding lines. Moreover, by simultaneously solving the ’sea-level equation’and modelling ice-sheet flow, coupled models provide a global field of relative sea-level change thatis consistent with dynamic changes in ice-sheet extent. In this paper we present an overview of recentadvances, possible caveats, methodologies and challenges involved in coupled ice-sheet e sea-levelmodelling. We conclude by presenting a first-order comparison between a suite of relative sea-leveldata and output from a coupled ice-sheet e sea-level model