A semi-Lagrangian advection scheme in Elmer (v26.1): benchmarking against discontinuous Galerkin and application to ice-damage transport

Mosbeux, Cyrille; Råback, Peter; Gilbert, Adrien; Brondex, Julien; Gillet-Chaulet, Fabien; Jourdain, Nicolas C.; Chekki, Mondher; Gagliardini, Olivier; Durand, Gaël

doi:10.5194/gmd-19-8269-2026

Articles | Volume 19, issue 17

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-8269-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-8269-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 17

Model description paper

|

08 Sep 2026

Model description paper |

| 08 Sep 2026

A semi-Lagrangian advection scheme in Elmer (v26.1): benchmarking against discontinuous Galerkin and application to ice-damage transport

Cyrille Mosbeux, Peter Råback, Adrien Gilbert, Julien Brondex, Fabien Gillet-Chaulet, Nicolas C. Jourdain, Mondher Chekki, Olivier Gagliardini, and Gaël Durand

Data sets

cmosbeux/SEMI-LAGRANGIAN-PUBLICATION: Semi-Lagrangian Advection Scheme in Elmer/Ice – Benchmark and Damage Tests Cyrille Mosbeux https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15741827

Semi-Lagrangian Advection Scheme in Elmer/Ice - Benchmark and Damage Tests Cyrille Mosbeux https://github.com/cmosbeux/SEMI-LAGRANGIAN-PUBLICATION

Model code and software

ElmerFEM Juha Ruokolainen et al. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19888172

Short summary

Transport processes like rocks carried by ice flow and damage evolution – a proxy for crevasses – are key in ice sheet modeling and should occur without diffusion. Yet, standard numerical methods often blur these features. We explore a particle-based Semi-Lagrangian approach, comparing it to a Discontinuous Galerkin method, and show it can accurately simulate such transport when run at high enough resolution.