[MITgcm-devel] negative H in calc_r_star.F

[Martin Losch]

Hi there,

I am not sure I understand the full problem. Is it htis: With the current combination of ini_masks_etc and shelfice_update_masks you can end up with hFacC's and consequently model geometry that potentially includes adjacent wet fractional cells that have no direct connection, as sketched in Dimitris's white board sketch. Then the code only knows about fractions, but does not care which fractions of the cell are dry (can be two parts). instead it implicitly assumes that all of the dry fraction is at the bottom (which it is for the usual open ocean applications). This can cause hFacW or hFacS between such cells to be nonzero, allowing flux between them: the model code "moves" the ice-shelf topography frac from the top of the cell (layer) to the bottom, thereby opening the connection between the cells. Is this the situation?

If that's the case here's my opinion: