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Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA)

From simple box models to full Earth simulations - learn how to simulate GIA step by step.

The diagram below shows the suite of G-ADOPT notebook tutorials for simulating Glacial Isostatic Adjustment (GIA), and how they build on one another. Together, these tutorials demonstrate how to set up and run both forward and inverse simulations using G-ADOPT. At present, they are focussed on simulating viscoelastic Earth deformation under evolving surface loads. This page will be updated as new functionality becomes available.

graph TD
  base[Base]

  subgraph geometry[Geometry]
  cylindrical_2d[2D Cylindrical]
  end

  subgraph rheology[Rheology]
  burgers[Burgers]
  end

  subgraph adjoint[Adjoint]
  adjoint_viscosity[Viscosity Inversion] --> adjoint_ice[Ice Inversion] --> adjoint_coupled[adjoint_coupled]
  end

  base --> geometry
  base --> rheology
  geometry --> adjoint

  click base "glacial_isostatic_adjustment/base_case"
  click cylindrical_2d "glacial_isostatic_adjustment/2d_cylindrical"

Our tutorials guide you from the simplest configurations to advanced, Earth-like simulations. You will start with a basic 2D compressible Maxwell model, then introduce more representative physics and geometries. Along the way, you will learn how to analyse key model diagnostics and how to use G-ADOPT's adjoint tools to recover unknown ice histories and/or Earth structure.

After completing these tutorials, you will be equipped to:

  1. Build forward models of viscoelastic deformation driven by surface loads - from simple boxes to full spherical shells.
  2. Incorporate different physics such as a transient rheology.
  3. Apply adjoint methods to invert for unknown ice histories and rheological structure.

Whether you are new to GIA or ready to tackle state-of-the-art research problems, these tutorials provide a clear, step-by-step path into GIA modelling with G-ADOPT.