Rigorous Analysis and Dynamics of Hibler’s Sea Ice Model

Abstract

This article develops for the first time a rigorous analysis of Hibler’s model of sea ice dynamics. Identifying Hibler’s ice stress as a quasilinear second-order operator and regarding Hibler’s model as a quasilinear evolution equation, it is shown that a regularized version of Hibler’s coupled sea ice model, i.e., the model coupling velocity, thickness and compactness of sea ice, is locally strongly well-posed within the L_q-setting and also globally strongly well-posed for initial data close to constant equilibria.