Anisotropic metric-based mesh adaptation for ice flow modelling in Firedrake
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Glaciological modelling is a computationally challenging task due to its high cost and complexity associated with large spatial-scale and long timescale simulations. In this paper we propose feature-based anisotropic mesh adaptation methods and demonstrate their effectiveness for time-dependent glaciological modelling on a Marine Ice Sheet Model Intercomparison Project (MISMIP+) experiment. Our methods use the Python-based Firedrake finite element library and the mmg2d remeshing software. We show that we are able to achieve solution accuracy comparable to uniform 0.5 km resolution mesh simulations using a sequence of adapted meshes with, on average, 30 times fewer vertices when adapting meshes based on the basal stress and 8–12 times fewer when adapting based on ice thickness and velocity. We further introduce a novel hybrid time-dependent fixed-point mesh adaptation algorithm that reaches mesh convergence approximately twice as fast compared with the existing global fixed-point algorithm. Since the fixed-point algorithms require that the problem is solved multiple times, the reported reduction in the number of vertices ultimately translates into a 3–6 times lower overall computational cost compared to uniform mesh simulations.
Date Issued
2025-07-02
Date Acceptance
2025-04-01
Citation
Geoscientific Model Development, 2025, 18 (13), pp.4023-4044
ISSN
1991-959X
Publisher
Copernicus Publications
Start Page
4023
End Page
4044
Journal / Book Title
Geoscientific Model Development
Volume
18
Issue
13
Copyright Statement
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
License URL
Subjects
ADAPTIVE MESH
CONSERVATIVE INTERPOLATION
GENERATION
Geology
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
GROUNDING LINES
IMPLEMENTATION
INTERCOMPARISON PROJECT
MISMIP
PARAMETERIZATION
Physical Sciences
REFINEMENT
Science & Technology
SHEET
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2025-07-02