Mathematics of sea ice phenomena

Ice is one of the most common materials on Earth, yet it is very different from all other known materials. Depending on its morphology and microstructure, it may behave as an elastic, brittle, viscoelastic or even as a quasi-liquid material. Moreover, ice is present on the Earth in different forms, notably the freshwater ice that occurs in the air, in ice caps, glaciers, icebergs, frozen rivers and lakes, and the many varieties of sea-ice that form in the polar and subpolar oceans. Sea-ice consists of solid fresh-water ice, liquid salty brine, gas inclusion and possibly some other components, which makes it difficult to describe.The 'Mathematics of Sea-Ice Phenomena' programme will focus upon sea-ice mechanics and thermodynamics, and sea-ice interactions with fluids and solids. Modelling of sea-ice and its behaviour in different situations is a challenging problem that spans several areas of physics and mathematics and has massive implications in the natural sciences and engineering.