Accurate simulation of transient landscape evolution by eliminating numerical diffusion
- Landscape evolution models (LEMs) allow the study of earth surface responses to changing climatic and tectonic forcings. While much effort has been devoted to the development of LEMs that simulate a wide range of processes, the numerical accuracy of these models has received less attention. Most LEMs use first-order accurate numerical methods that suffer from substantial numerical diffusion. Numerical diffusion particularly affects the solution of the advection equation and thus the simulation of retreating landforms such as cliffs and river knickpoints. This has potential consequences for the integrated response of the simulated landscape. Here we test a higher-order flux-limiting finite volume method that is total variation diminishing (TVD-FVM) to solve the partial differential equations of river incision and tectonic displacement. We show that using the TVD-FVM to simulate river incision significantly influences the evolution of simulated landscapes and the spatial and temporal variability of catchment-wide erosion rates.Landscape evolution models (LEMs) allow the study of earth surface responses to changing climatic and tectonic forcings. While much effort has been devoted to the development of LEMs that simulate a wide range of processes, the numerical accuracy of these models has received less attention. Most LEMs use first-order accurate numerical methods that suffer from substantial numerical diffusion. Numerical diffusion particularly affects the solution of the advection equation and thus the simulation of retreating landforms such as cliffs and river knickpoints. This has potential consequences for the integrated response of the simulated landscape. Here we test a higher-order flux-limiting finite volume method that is total variation diminishing (TVD-FVM) to solve the partial differential equations of river incision and tectonic displacement. We show that using the TVD-FVM to simulate river incision significantly influences the evolution of simulated landscapes and the spatial and temporal variability of catchment-wide erosion rates. Furthermore, a two-dimensional TVD-FVM accurately simulates the evolution of landscapes affected by lateral tectonic displacement, a process whose simulation was hitherto largely limited to LEMs with flexible spatial discretization. We implement the scheme in TTLEM (TopoToolbox Landscape Evolution Model), a spatially explicit, raster-based LEM for the study of fluvially eroding landscapes in TopoToolbox 2.…
Author details: | Benjamin Campforts, Wolfgang SchwanghartORCiDGND, Gerard Govers |
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URN: | urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-418784 |
DOI: | https://doi.org/10.25932/publishup-41878 |
ISSN: | 1866-8372 |
Title of parent work (English): | Postprints der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe |
Subtitle (English): | the TTLEM 1.0 model |
Publication series (Volume number): | Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Reihe (664) |
Publication type: | Postprint |
Language: | English |
Date of first publication: | 2019/03/04 |
Publication year: | 2017 |
Publishing institution: | Universität Potsdam |
Release date: | 2019/03/04 |
Tag: | equation; erosion; hillslopes; implicit; ranges; river incision model; stream power law; topography; transport |
Issue: | 664 |
Number of pages: | 20 |
Source: | Earth Surface Dynamics 5 (2017), pp. 47–66 DOI 10.5194/esurf-5-47-2017 |
Organizational units: | Mathematisch-Naturwissenschaftliche Fakultät |
DDC classification: | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 55 Geowissenschaften, Geologie / 550 Geowissenschaften |
Peer review: | Referiert |
Publishing method: | Open Access |
License (German): | CC-BY - Namensnennung 4.0 International |
External remark: | Bibliographieeintrag der Originalveröffentlichung/Quelle |