diff --git a/compass/ocean/mesh/remap_topography.cfg b/compass/ocean/mesh/remap_topography.cfg
index de659dabd..34b4bcdd8 100644
--- a/compass/ocean/mesh/remap_topography.cfg
+++ b/compass/ocean/mesh/remap_topography.cfg
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 [remap_topography]
 
 # the name of the topography file in the bathymetry database
-topo_filename = BedMachineAntarctica_v3_and_GEBCO_2023_0.0125_degree_20240611.nc
+topo_filename = BedMachineAntarctica_v3_and_GEBCO_2023_0.0125_degree_20240828.nc
 
 # variable names in topo_filename
 lon_var = lon
diff --git a/compass/ocean/mesh/remap_topography.py b/compass/ocean/mesh/remap_topography.py
index 0e0356220..788561fc3 100644
--- a/compass/ocean/mesh/remap_topography.py
+++ b/compass/ocean/mesh/remap_topography.py
@@ -158,16 +158,18 @@ def run(self):
             ds_out[var] = xr.where(valid, ds_out[var] / norm, 0.)
 
         thickness = ds_out.landIceThkObserved
+        bed = ds_out.bed_elevation
+        flotation_thickness = - (ocean_density / ice_density) * bed
+        # not allowed to be thicker than the flotation thickness
+        thickness = np.minimum(thickness, flotation_thickness)
+        ds_out['landIceThkObserved'] = thickness
+
         ds_out['landIcePressureObserved'] = ice_density * g * thickness
 
         # compute the ice draft to be consistent with the land ice pressure
         # and using E3SM's density of seawater
-        draft = - (ice_density / ocean_density) * thickness
-        bed = ds_out.bed_elevation
-
-        # can't be deeper than the bed
-        draft = xr.where(draft >= bed, draft, bed)
 
-        ds_out['landIceDraftObserved'] = draft
+        ds_out['landIceDraftObserved'] = \
+            - (ice_density / ocean_density) * thickness
 
         write_netcdf(ds_out, 'topography_remapped.nc')
diff --git a/compass/ocean/tests/utility/combine_topo/__init__.py b/compass/ocean/tests/utility/combine_topo/__init__.py
index 173253ba5..788d8da43 100644
--- a/compass/ocean/tests/utility/combine_topo/__init__.py
+++ b/compass/ocean/tests/utility/combine_topo/__init__.py
@@ -299,14 +299,17 @@ def _combine(self):
         for field in ['bathymetry', 'ice_draft', 'thickness']:
             combined[field].attrs['unit'] = 'meters'
 
+        for field in ['ice_mask', 'grounded_mask', 'ocean_mask']:
+            combined[field] = bedmachine[field]
+
         combined['bathymetry_mask'] = bathy_mask
 
         fill = {'ice_draft': 0., 'thickness': 0., 'ice_mask': 0.,
-                'grounded_mask': 0., 'ocean_mask': combined.bathymetry_mask}
+                'grounded_mask': 0., 'ocean_mask': bathy_mask}
 
         for field, fill_val in fill.items():
-            valid = bedmachine[field].notnull()
-            combined[field] = bedmachine[field].where(valid, fill_val)
+            valid = combined[field].notnull()
+            combined[field] = combined[field].where(valid, fill_val)
 
         combined['water_column'] = \
             combined['ice_draft'] - combined['bathymetry']
diff --git a/compass/ocean/tests/utility/combine_topo/combine_topo.cfg b/compass/ocean/tests/utility/combine_topo/combine_topo.cfg
index f8d9cc2ec..51bd2f2d1 100644
--- a/compass/ocean/tests/utility/combine_topo/combine_topo.cfg
+++ b/compass/ocean/tests/utility/combine_topo/combine_topo.cfg
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@ antarctic_filename = BedMachineAntarctica-v3.nc
 global_filename = GEBCO_2023.nc
 
 # the name of the output topography file, to be copied to the bathymetry database
-cobined_filename = BedMachineAntarctica_v3_and_GEBCO_2023_0.0125_degree_20240611.nc
+cobined_filename = BedMachineAntarctica_v3_and_GEBCO_2023_0.0125_degree_20240828.nc
 
 # the target and minimum number of MPI tasks to use in remapping
 ntasks = 512