Does the AEM3D model consider sediment heat flux?

Question

Hi,

I am wondering whether the latest version of the AEM3D model allows the user to set a sediment temperature or sediment heat flux? From my understanding there are multiple dynamic sediment flux coefficients that are related to the sediment mineralisation function, however I did not find any function or coefficient related to the heat flux/temperature of the sediment to be set either by the model or the user.

Thank you,

Sara

Answer 1

Hi Sara,  there is currently no sediment-water heat flux modelled.  

There is a student who is going to look at this soon but it will be a little while before it makes its way to the main code.

Chris

Comments

Hi Chris,

I just wanted to check whether the sediment flux feature has been added to the more recent versions of the model.

Thanks,
Ali

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Hi Ali,

Yes this has been added based on Bastian Saez ([email protected]) work.

Keys in run_aem3d.dat are

iheatsediment (0 or 1 to turn on and off)
n_sed   (number of layers in the sediment, default 50)
min_dz_sed (minimum dz for heat sediment module, default 0.01)
max_dz_sed (maximum dz for heat sediment module, default 0.5)
sediment_heat_diffusivity (default. 0.017 !m2/d )
sediment_heat_capacity (default 5.7E6 !J m-3 °C)

Chris

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Hi Chris,

Thanks for the prompt answer, that was super helpful.

I added the keys in `run_aem3d.dat`, but I’m getting this warning:

`WARNING * unknown key iheatsediment in run_aem3d.dat`

I used the sediment keys with an AEM3D version I downloaded last month, which was compiled on March 17, 2026, and got the same warning. I then downloaded the latest version from the website today, but that version appears to be issued in September 2021, which seems odd.

I’m wondering whether this is just a warning and the sediment heat flux is already implemented internally, or whether the key is not recognized in the version I’m using. Also, could you clarify which AEM3D version is currently the latest?

Thanks,
Alireza

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Hi Ali, you want the latest development version on the website.

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thanks Chris, I am running into issues switching to the development version. The pre_aem3d run without problem but when I want to run the main folder I ran into this error using aem3d_openmp.exe:

forrtl: severe (157): Program Exception - access violation

Would you be able to help me navigate through this error? it is the same model that was running with the published versions but not with the development version aem3d_openmp.exe.