Ice sheet models adjust basal sliding with assumed ice temperatures so that surface speeds match observations, leading to inconsistencies between basal thermal state and sliding fields. We propose a method to quantify these inconsistencies without requiring any subglacial measurements. This method is applied to ice sheet model of Totten Glacier using eight geothermal heat flux (GHF) datasets, yielding rankings of GHF that align with those based on radar data.

We assimilate satellite observations of Arctic sea ice thickness to create a skillful initial sea ice state, assimilating ENVISAT-derived sea ice thickness for the first time. We produce a reanalysis and seasonal hindcasts showing that sea ice thickness and volume estimates are significantly improved in both reanalysis and prediction. Predictions of summer sea ice extent in our model are also substantially improved by reducing the high sea ice thickness bias.