Observations on Ice-Dammed Summit Lake, British Columbia, Canada

Abstract Testing of a water-balance equation for the Summit Lake basin in July and August 1968 indicated that, 2½ months before its fourth known draining, there existed a leak through or under the damming glacier that may have been as large as 3–5 m 3/s . Lake temperatures recorded during the same p...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Glaciology
Main Author: Gilbert, R.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 1971
Subjects:
Online Access:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000022048
https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143000022048
Description
Summary:Abstract Testing of a water-balance equation for the Summit Lake basin in July and August 1968 indicated that, 2½ months before its fourth known draining, there existed a leak through or under the damming glacier that may have been as large as 3–5 m 3/s . Lake temperatures recorded during the same period indicate water at 0.5–0.8°C near the ice dam and up to 2.6°C 4–5 km from the dam. These observations support the proposal of Liestøl (1956) and Mathews (in press) of tunnel enlargement by melting. It is calculated that lake water temperatures of 0.25, 0.9 and 0.15°C are required to account for the November 1965, September 1967 and November 1968 drainings, respectively.