Glaciers respond slowly to changing climatic conditions, providing a long paleoclimate record.
They also comprise a significant portion of the global water budget so that the environmental, social, and economic implications would be profound if a rapid deglaciation of large ice sheets were to occur. A proper understanding of glacier dynamics is therefore an integral part of understanding past and future climate trends. The purpose of my doctoral dissertation is to develop a clearer understanding of the mechanisms involved in rapid ice-sheet deglaciation. The latter boundary is determined by the balance of the ice-sheet driving force, basal melting, and oceanic hydrostatic pressure. The most significant change in the model structure is the use of higher order basis functions in the finite-element solution.