Recent advances in understanding Antarctic subglacial lakes and hydrology
It is now well documented that over 400 subglacial lakes exist across the bed of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. They comprise a variety of sizes and volumes (from the approx. 250 km long Lake Vostok to bodies of water less than 1 km in length), relate to a number of discrete topographic settings (from tho...
Published in: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |
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crroyalsociety:10.1098/rsta.2014.0306 2024-09-15T17:46:38+00:00 Recent advances in understanding Antarctic subglacial lakes and hydrology Siegert, Martin J. Ross, Neil Le Brocq, Anne M. UK NERC 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0306 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2014.0306 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsta.2014.0306 en eng The Royal Society https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences volume 374, issue 2059, page 20140306 ISSN 1364-503X 1471-2962 journal-article 2016 crroyalsociety https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0306 2024-07-29T04:23:18Z It is now well documented that over 400 subglacial lakes exist across the bed of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. They comprise a variety of sizes and volumes (from the approx. 250 km long Lake Vostok to bodies of water less than 1 km in length), relate to a number of discrete topographic settings (from those contained within valleys to lakes that reside in broad flat terrain) and exhibit a range of dynamic behaviours (from ‘active’ lakes that periodically outburst some or all of their water to those isolated hydrologically for millions of years). Here we critique recent advances in our understanding of subglacial lakes, in particular since the last inventory in 2012. We show that within 3 years our knowledge of the hydrological processes at the ice-sheet base has advanced considerably. We describe evidence for further ‘active’ subglacial lakes, based on satellite observation of ice-surface changes, and discuss why detection of many ‘active’ lakes is not resolved in traditional radio-echo sounding methods. We go on to review evidence for large-scale subglacial water flow in Antarctica, including the discovery of ancient channels developed by former hydrological processes. We end by predicting areas where future discoveries may be possible, including the detection, measurement and significance of groundwater (i.e. water held beneath the ice-bed interface). Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet The Royal Society Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 374 2059 20140306 |
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crroyalsociety |
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English |
description |
It is now well documented that over 400 subglacial lakes exist across the bed of the Antarctic Ice Sheet. They comprise a variety of sizes and volumes (from the approx. 250 km long Lake Vostok to bodies of water less than 1 km in length), relate to a number of discrete topographic settings (from those contained within valleys to lakes that reside in broad flat terrain) and exhibit a range of dynamic behaviours (from ‘active’ lakes that periodically outburst some or all of their water to those isolated hydrologically for millions of years). Here we critique recent advances in our understanding of subglacial lakes, in particular since the last inventory in 2012. We show that within 3 years our knowledge of the hydrological processes at the ice-sheet base has advanced considerably. We describe evidence for further ‘active’ subglacial lakes, based on satellite observation of ice-surface changes, and discuss why detection of many ‘active’ lakes is not resolved in traditional radio-echo sounding methods. We go on to review evidence for large-scale subglacial water flow in Antarctica, including the discovery of ancient channels developed by former hydrological processes. We end by predicting areas where future discoveries may be possible, including the detection, measurement and significance of groundwater (i.e. water held beneath the ice-bed interface). |
author2 |
UK NERC |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Siegert, Martin J. Ross, Neil Le Brocq, Anne M. |
spellingShingle |
Siegert, Martin J. Ross, Neil Le Brocq, Anne M. Recent advances in understanding Antarctic subglacial lakes and hydrology |
author_facet |
Siegert, Martin J. Ross, Neil Le Brocq, Anne M. |
author_sort |
Siegert, Martin J. |
title |
Recent advances in understanding Antarctic subglacial lakes and hydrology |
title_short |
Recent advances in understanding Antarctic subglacial lakes and hydrology |
title_full |
Recent advances in understanding Antarctic subglacial lakes and hydrology |
title_fullStr |
Recent advances in understanding Antarctic subglacial lakes and hydrology |
title_full_unstemmed |
Recent advances in understanding Antarctic subglacial lakes and hydrology |
title_sort |
recent advances in understanding antarctic subglacial lakes and hydrology |
publisher |
The Royal Society |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0306 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2014.0306 https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full-xml/10.1098/rsta.2014.0306 |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences volume 374, issue 2059, page 20140306 ISSN 1364-503X 1471-2962 |
op_rights |
https://royalsociety.org/journals/ethics-policies/data-sharing-mining/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2014.0306 |
container_title |
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences |
container_volume |
374 |
container_issue |
2059 |
container_start_page |
20140306 |
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1810494931144278016 |