ITMSL: an improved ice thickness inversion model integrating basal sliding dynamics for High Mountain Asia (v1.0.0)

Abstract. Glacier thickness plays a fundamental role in understanding ice dynamics, hydrological resources, and glacial hazards. Current ice thickness inversion primarily uses laminar flow theory constrained by geometric, topographic, and ice flow characteristics. However, these approaches oversimplify basal sliding parameterization, leading to substantial uncertainties and significant biases in thickness estimates. Here, we present an improved ice thickness estimation approach through the integration of basal sliding dynamics into laminar flow theory, termed the Ice Thickness Model considering Sliding Law (ITMSL). We apply and evaluate the model's performance and limitations across High Mountain Asia (HMA), a region characterized by complex topography and data scarcity. The model enables automated large-scale ice thickness reconstruction while simultaneously determining basal sliding velocities and subglacial topography. Validation against ground-penetrating radar (GPR) measurements on 16 glaciers shows that, compared to existing laminar flow-based models GV14 (Gantayat et al., 2014) and GV22 (Millan et al., 2022), ITMSL achieves better performance, with accuracy improved by 16.2 % and 28.9 %, respectively. This study has demonstrated that ITMSL provides an improvement over previous methods, offering new insights for ice thickness modeling and its application in data-sparse high mountain regions.