Zero_depth parameter in adiabatic initial temperature profile

ASPECT
1

Hi,
I am trying to understand what adiabatic.cc is really doing. Half way through the file, the parameter {\tt const double zero_depth = 0.174} is hard coded in the context of subadiabaticity. It looks like it is a dimensionless parameter, but if I multiply it with 2891km I get ~503km , and if I multiply it by 6371km I get ~1108km. Does anybody remember where this 0.174 value come from?
Ce/

2

Hi Cedric,

this is one of the very first files I added to ASPECT (when I visited Wolfgang for the first time after I had just started my PhD in 2012). I don’t quite remember where the exact number comes from, but the goal was to be able to create a profile like I used in this model (Supplementary Figure 2) in Citcom. Originally, I took the idea for the subadiabaticity from this paper and tried to use a function that would create a temperature profile with a similar shape like the ones shown in Figure 1 of that paper.

So it’s very specific and the code could definitely be improved. Feel free to make this more general if you want to use it for something different.

Juliane

3

thanks! I will look into this.