Bed topography and subglacial landforms in the onset region of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream

The Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) is an important dynamic component for the total mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet, as it reaches up to the central divide and drains 12% of the ice sheet. The geometric boundary conditions and in particular the nature of the subglacial bed of the NEGI...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Annals of Glaciology
Main Authors: Franke, Steven, Jansen, Daniela, Binder, Tobias, Dörr, Nils, Helm, Veit, Paden, John, Steinhage, Daniel, Eisen, Olaf
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: INT GLACIOL SOC 2020
Subjects:
Greenland
Annals of Glaciology
East Greenland
East Greenland Ice-core Project
Greenland ice core
Greenland Ice core Project
ice core
Ice Sheet
Online Access:https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/51448/
https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/51448/1/bed_topography_and_subglacial_landforms_in_the_onset_region_of_the_northeast_greenland_ice_stream.pdf
https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.b1caa2bd-9f06-4fef-8438-f165a2c84e39
https://hdl.handle.net/
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Summary:The Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) is an important dynamic component for the total mass balance of the Greenland ice sheet, as it reaches up to the central divide and drains 12% of the ice sheet. The geometric boundary conditions and in particular the nature of the subglacial bed of the NEGIS are essential to understand its ice flow dynamics. We present a record of more than 8000 km of radar survey lines of multi-channel, ultra-wideband radio echo sounding data covering an area of 24 000 km2, centered on the drill site for the East Greenland Ice-core Project (EGRIP), in the upper part of the NEGIS catchment. Our data yield a new detailed model of ice-thickness distribution and basal topography in the region. The enhanced resolution of our bed topography model shows features which we interpret to be caused by erosional activity, potentially over several glacial–interglacial cycles. Off-nadir reflections from the ice–bed interface in the center of the ice stream indicate a streamlined bed with elongated subglacial landforms. Our new bed topography model will help to improve the basal boundary conditions of NEGIS prescribed for ice flow models and thus foster an improved understanding of the ice-dynamic setting.

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