Descriptive Aliases

The table below maps long English names to IGM canonical names, allowing module code and output configs to use self-documenting variable names instead of the short internal identifiers.

These aliases are active by default — builtin_state_aliases loads descriptive.yaml at startup, so names like bed_elevation, surface_mass_balance, and temperature work out of the box.

Alias	IGM Canonical Name
`bed_elevation`	`topg`
`bedrock_elevation`	`topg`
`surface_elevation`	`usurf`
`ice_surface_elevation`	`usurf`
`ice_thickness`	`thk`
`ice_mask`	`icemask`
`erosion_rate`	`dtopgdt`
`grid_spacing_field`	`dX`
`surface_mass_balance`	`smb`
`avg_velocity_x`	`ubar`
`avg_velocity_y`	`vbar`
`depth_avg_speed`	`velbar_mag`
`ice_vel_x`	`U`
`ice_vel_y`	`V`
`ice_vel_z`	`W`
`surface_vel_x`	`uvelsurf`
`surface_vel_y`	`vvelsurf`
`surface_vel_z`	`wvelsurf`
`basal_vel_x`	`uvelbase`
`basal_vel_y`	`vvelbase`
`basal_vel_z`	`wvelbase`
`surface_speed`	`velsurf_mag`
`basal_speed`	`velbase_mag`
`flux_divergence`	`divflux`
`flow_rate_factor`	`arrhenius`
`basal_shear_stress`	`tau_ref`
`sliding_coefficient`	`slidingco`
`enthalpy`	`E`
`temperature`	`T`
`water_fraction`	`omega`
`surface_temperature`	`T_s`
`surface_enthalpy`	`E_s`
`melting_point_temp`	`T_pmp`
`melting_point_enthalpy`	`E_pmp`
`pressure_adj_temp`	`T_pa`
`basal_pressure_adj_temp`	`T_pa_b`
`till_water_thickness`	`h_water_till`
`air_temperature`	`air_temp`