Surface meltwater impounded by seasonal englacial storage in West Greenland

A. K. Kendrick; D. M. Schroeder; W. Chu; T. J. Young; P. Christoffersen; J. Todd; S. H. Doyle; J. E. Box; A. Hubbard; B. Hubbard; P. V. Brennan; K. W. Nicholls; L. B. Lok

doi:10.1029/2018GL079787

Surface meltwater impounded by seasonal englacial storage in West Greenland

A. K. Kendrick, D. M. Schroeder, W. Chu, T. J. Young, P. Christoffersen, J. Todd, S. H. Doyle, J. E. Box, A. Hubbard, B. Hubbard, P. V. Brennan, K. W. Nicholls, L. B. Lok

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

The delivery of surface meltwater through englacial drainage systems to the bed of the Greenland Ice Sheet modulates ice flow through basal lubrication. Recent studies in Southeast Greenland have identified a perennial firn aquifer; however, there are few observations quantifying the input or residence time of water within the englacial system and it remains unknown whether water can be stored within solid ice. Using hourly stationary radar measurements, we present observations of englacial and episodic subglacial water in the ablation zone of Store Glacier in West Greenland. We find significant storage of meltwater in solid ice damaged by crevasses extending down to 48 m below the ice surface during the summer which is released or refrozen during winter. This is a significant hydrological component newly observed in the ablation zone of Greenland that could delay the delivery of meltwater to the bed, changing the ice dynamic response to surface meltwater.

Original language	English
Number of pages	8
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	Early View
Early online date	7 Oct 2018
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079787
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 7 Oct 2018

Keywords

Glacial hydrology
Radio glaciology
Englacial storage
Subglacial draiange
Greenland Ice Sheet

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10.1029/2018GL079787Licence: CC BY

Kendrick_2018_GRL_Seasonalenglacialstorage_CC
Copyright © 2018. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Final published version, 1.99 MBLicence: CC BY

akkendrick/ApRES-hydrology: v1.1
Kendrick, A. K. (Creator), Schroeder, D. M. (Creator), Chu, W. (Creator), Young, T. J. (Creator), Christoffersen, P. (Creator), Todd, J. A. (Creator), Doyle, S. H. (Creator), Box, J. E. (Creator), Hubbard, A. (Creator), Hubbard, B. (Creator), Brennan, P. V. (Creator), Nicholls, K. W. (Creator) & Lok, L. B. (Creator), Zenodo, 25 Sept 2018
DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1435101
Dataset
Model output from 3D calving simulations of Store Glacier, West Greenland
Todd, J. A. (Creator), Christoffersen, P. (Creator), Zwinger, T. (Creator), Råback, P. (Creator), Chauché, N. (Creator), Benn, D. I. (Creator), Luckman, A. (Creator), Ryan, J. (Creator), Toberg, N. (Creator), Slater, D. (Creator) & Hubbard, A. (Creator), Polar Data Centre, Natural Environment Research Council, UK, 2017
DOI: 10.5285/19893d62-19db-4fbd-938b-a9858d1cf40b
Dataset

Cite this

Kendrick, A. K., Schroeder, D. M., Chu, W., Young, T. J., Christoffersen, P., Todd, J., Doyle, S. H., Box, J. E., Hubbard, A., Hubbard, B., Brennan, P. V., Nicholls, K. W., & Lok, L. B. (2018). Surface meltwater impounded by seasonal englacial storage in West Greenland. Geophysical Research Letters, Early View. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079787

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title = "Surface meltwater impounded by seasonal englacial storage in West Greenland",

abstract = "The delivery of surface meltwater through englacial drainage systems to the bed of the Greenland Ice Sheet modulates ice flow through basal lubrication. Recent studies in Southeast Greenland have identified a perennial firn aquifer; however, there are few observations quantifying the input or residence time of water within the englacial system and it remains unknown whether water can be stored within solid ice. Using hourly stationary radar measurements, we present observations of englacial and episodic subglacial water in the ablation zone of Store Glacier in West Greenland. We find significant storage of meltwater in solid ice damaged by crevasses extending down to 48 m below the ice surface during the summer which is released or refrozen during winter. This is a significant hydrological component newly observed in the ablation zone of Greenland that could delay the delivery of meltwater to the bed, changing the ice dynamic response to surface meltwater.",

keywords = "Glacial hydrology, Radio glaciology, Englacial storage, Subglacial draiange, Greenland Ice Sheet",

author = "Kendrick, {A. K.} and Schroeder, {D. M.} and W. Chu and Young, {T. J.} and P. Christoffersen and J. Todd and Doyle, {S. H.} and Box, {J. E.} and A. Hubbard and B. Hubbard and Brennan, {P. V.} and Nicholls, {K. W.} and Lok, {L. B.}",

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doi = "10.1029/2018GL079787",

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AU - Kendrick, A. K.

AU - Schroeder, D. M.

AU - Chu, W.

AU - Young, T. J.

AU - Christoffersen, P.

AU - Todd, J.

AU - Doyle, S. H.

AU - Box, J. E.

AU - Hubbard, A.

AU - Hubbard, B.

AU - Brennan, P. V.

AU - Nicholls, K. W.

AU - Lok, L. B.

PY - 2018/10/7

Y1 - 2018/10/7

N2 - The delivery of surface meltwater through englacial drainage systems to the bed of the Greenland Ice Sheet modulates ice flow through basal lubrication. Recent studies in Southeast Greenland have identified a perennial firn aquifer; however, there are few observations quantifying the input or residence time of water within the englacial system and it remains unknown whether water can be stored within solid ice. Using hourly stationary radar measurements, we present observations of englacial and episodic subglacial water in the ablation zone of Store Glacier in West Greenland. We find significant storage of meltwater in solid ice damaged by crevasses extending down to 48 m below the ice surface during the summer which is released or refrozen during winter. This is a significant hydrological component newly observed in the ablation zone of Greenland that could delay the delivery of meltwater to the bed, changing the ice dynamic response to surface meltwater.

AB - The delivery of surface meltwater through englacial drainage systems to the bed of the Greenland Ice Sheet modulates ice flow through basal lubrication. Recent studies in Southeast Greenland have identified a perennial firn aquifer; however, there are few observations quantifying the input or residence time of water within the englacial system and it remains unknown whether water can be stored within solid ice. Using hourly stationary radar measurements, we present observations of englacial and episodic subglacial water in the ablation zone of Store Glacier in West Greenland. We find significant storage of meltwater in solid ice damaged by crevasses extending down to 48 m below the ice surface during the summer which is released or refrozen during winter. This is a significant hydrological component newly observed in the ablation zone of Greenland that could delay the delivery of meltwater to the bed, changing the ice dynamic response to surface meltwater.

KW - Glacial hydrology

KW - Radio glaciology

KW - Englacial storage

KW - Subglacial draiange

KW - Greenland Ice Sheet

U2 - 10.1029/2018GL079787

DO - 10.1029/2018GL079787

M3 - Article

SN - 0094-8276

VL - Early View

JO - Geophysical Research Letters

JF - Geophysical Research Letters

ER -

Surface meltwater impounded by seasonal englacial storage in West Greenland

Abstract

Keywords

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Datasets

akkendrick/ApRES-hydrology: v1.1

Model output from 3D calving simulations of Store Glacier, West Greenland

Cite this