William Spicer, University of St Andrews, was part-funded by the Arctic Travel and Partnerships Fund to visit collaborators at CSC, Helsinki, to discuss model development and validation exercises. 

I am a PhD student at the University of St Andrews, researching ice fracture and iceberg calving processes at tidewater glaciers in the Arctic. In March 2026, I received support from the Scottish Arctic Network (ScAN) to visit Dr Jan Åström at CSC – IT Center for Science in Helsinki, Finland. The research visit provided a valuable opportunity to strengthen an ongoing international collaboration and prepare for upcoming summer fieldwork in Svalbard. 

Given the difficulties and dangers of directly observing iceberg calving events, much of our current understanding of the processes involved comes from numerical modelling studies that can simulate iceberg calving. The Helsinki Discrete Element Model (HiDEM), originally developed by Dr Åstöm, is a particularly powerful tool for simulating iceberg calving events from first principles by representing a glacier as an assemblage of individual particles connected by breakable bonds. 

During my visit, I worked closely with Dr Åström to discuss the development and validation of a new viscoelastic version of HiDEM, as well as how the model can be used alongside field observations that will be collected during the upcoming summer field season. Combining recent advances in model development with targeted field observations will improve our understanding of the physical mechanisms controlling iceberg calving and provide valuable empirical constraints for future model simulations. 

The visit also provided an excellent opportunity to exchange ideas with experts in computational science and fracture mechanics. Through discussions and collaborative work, I gained new perspectives on model development, implementation, and validation exercises that will directly benefit my research. Furthermore, the visit helped to establish a clear framework for integrating field observations into HiDEM. 

I am very grateful to the Scottish Arctic Network for supporting this collaboration. The opportunity to work in person with international collaborators has strengthened existing partnerships and inspired future modelling and field research into the processes governing iceberg calving and glacier mass loss in the Arctic.