Least-Squares Finite Element Method for Sea-Ice Dynamics

A first-order system least squares formulation for the sea-ice dynamics is presented. In addition to the displacement field, the stress tensor is used as a variable. As finite element spaces, standard conforming piecewise polynomials for the displacement approximation are combined with Raviart-Thomas elements for the rows in the stress tensor. Computational results for a test problem illustrate the least-squares approach.