Waves of Accelerated Motion in a Glacier Approaching Surge: the Mini-Surges of Variegated Glacier, Alaska, U.S.A.
Abstract Periods of dramatically accelerated motion, in which the flow velocity increases suddenly from about 55 cm/d to a peak of 100–300cm/d and then decreases gradually over the course of a day, occurred repeatedly during June and July 1978–81 in Variegated Glacier (Alaska), a surging-type glacie...
| Published in: | Journal of Glaciology |
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| Main Authors: | , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
1987
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000005311 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000005311 |
| Summary: | Abstract Periods of dramatically accelerated motion, in which the flow velocity increases suddenly from about 55 cm/d to a peak of 100–300cm/d and then decreases gradually over the course of a day, occurred repeatedly during June and July 1978–81 in Variegated Glacier (Alaska), a surging-type glacier that surged in 1982–83. These “mini-surges” appear to be related mechanistically to the main surge. The flow-velocity peak propagates down-glacier as a wave at a speed of about 0.3 km/h, over a reach of about 6 km in length. It is accompanied by a propagating pressure wave in the basal water system of the glacier, in which, after a preliminary drop, the pressure rises rapidly to a level greater than the ice-overburden pressure at the glacier bed, and then drops gradually over a period of 1–2 d, usually reaching a new low for the summer. The peak velocity is accompanied by a peak of high seismic activity due to widespread fresh crevassing. It is also accompanied by a rapid uplift of the glacier surface, amounting to 6–11 cm, which then relaxes over a period of 1–2 d. Maximum uplift rate coincides with the peak in flow velocity; the peak in accumulated uplift lags behind the velocity peak by 2 h. The uplift is mainly due to basal cavitation driven by the high basal water pressure, although the strain wave associated with the mini-surge motion can also contribute. Basal cavitation is probably responsible for the pulse of high turbidity that appears in the terminal outflow stream in association with each mini-surge. In the down-glacier reach, where the mini-surge waves are attenuating, the observed strain wave corresponds to what is expected for the propagating pulse in flow velocity, but in the reach of maximum mini-surge motion the strain wave has a form quite different, possibly related to special features in the mini-surge initiation process from that point up-stream. The flow acceleration in the mini-surges is due to enhanced basal sliding caused by the high basal water pressure and the consequent reduction of bed ... |
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