Positive SMB but ice mass does not increase

SaiSan

Hi all,

I have encountered a peculiar output, where uniformly positive SMB input does not lead to thickness increase. Ice only appears sparsely, as if there's a blackhole that eats up all the added ice.. Below is a link to the saved model. Can somebody help take a look?

Sai

https://officee5pku-my.sharepoint.com/:u:/g/personal/arthur_officee5pku_onmicrosoft_com/EbY96EnBcOFPsCH7H-PkI08B9YBP94-9skeXYV58HArxOQ?e=KvEatN

mathieumorlighem

Hello @SaiSan

I think I found the problem in your model. The melting rates are really really high (take a look at md.results.TransientSolution(end).BasalforcingsGroundediceMeltingRate, you will see that it is > 8 m/yr in some places, higher than the surface mass balance and so the ice cannot grow).
The problem comes from the geothermal heat flux that you prescribed: md.basalforcings.geothermalflux is 73.9 W/m² !! I think you meant mW/m² so make sure to multiply it by 1e-3.

I hope this helps!
Mathieu

SaiSan

mathieumorlighem
You are right Mathieu. Correcting geothermalflux solves the problem. Thanks a lot!!