Subglacial lake drainage detected beneath the Greenland ice sheet
© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. The contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to sea-level rise has accelerated in recent decades. Subglacial lake drainage events can induce an ice sheet dynamic response - a process that has been observed in Antarctica, but not yet in Greenland, where the presenc...
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ftcdlib:qt4v52x0xv 2023-05-15T13:50:54+02:00 Subglacial lake drainage detected beneath the Greenland ice sheet Palmer, S Mcmillan, M Morlighem, M 8408 2015-10-09 application/pdf http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4v52x0xv english eng eScholarship, University of California qt4v52x0xv http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4v52x0xv public Palmer, S; Mcmillan, M; & Morlighem, M. (2015). Subglacial lake drainage detected beneath the Greenland ice sheet. Nature Communications, 6, 8408. doi:10.1038/ncomms9408. UC Irvine: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4v52x0xv article 2015 ftcdlib https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9408 2018-07-13T22:55:45Z © 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. The contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to sea-level rise has accelerated in recent decades. Subglacial lake drainage events can induce an ice sheet dynamic response - a process that has been observed in Antarctica, but not yet in Greenland, where the presence of subglacial lakes has only recently been discovered. Here we investigate the water flow paths from a subglacial lake, which drained beneath the Greenland ice sheet in 2011. Our observations suggest that the lake was fed by surface meltwater flowing down a nearby moulin, and that the draining water reached the ice margin via a subglacial tunnel. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar-derived measurements of ice surface motion acquired in 1995 suggest that a similar event may have occurred 16 years earlier, and we propose that, as the climate warms, increasing volumes of surface meltwater routed to the bed will cause such events to become more common in the future. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet University of California: eScholarship Greenland Nature Communications 6 1 |
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Open Polar |
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University of California: eScholarship |
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ftcdlib |
language |
English |
description |
© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. The contribution of the Greenland ice sheet to sea-level rise has accelerated in recent decades. Subglacial lake drainage events can induce an ice sheet dynamic response - a process that has been observed in Antarctica, but not yet in Greenland, where the presence of subglacial lakes has only recently been discovered. Here we investigate the water flow paths from a subglacial lake, which drained beneath the Greenland ice sheet in 2011. Our observations suggest that the lake was fed by surface meltwater flowing down a nearby moulin, and that the draining water reached the ice margin via a subglacial tunnel. Interferometric synthetic aperture radar-derived measurements of ice surface motion acquired in 1995 suggest that a similar event may have occurred 16 years earlier, and we propose that, as the climate warms, increasing volumes of surface meltwater routed to the bed will cause such events to become more common in the future. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Palmer, S Mcmillan, M Morlighem, M |
spellingShingle |
Palmer, S Mcmillan, M Morlighem, M Subglacial lake drainage detected beneath the Greenland ice sheet |
author_facet |
Palmer, S Mcmillan, M Morlighem, M |
author_sort |
Palmer, S |
title |
Subglacial lake drainage detected beneath the Greenland ice sheet |
title_short |
Subglacial lake drainage detected beneath the Greenland ice sheet |
title_full |
Subglacial lake drainage detected beneath the Greenland ice sheet |
title_fullStr |
Subglacial lake drainage detected beneath the Greenland ice sheet |
title_full_unstemmed |
Subglacial lake drainage detected beneath the Greenland ice sheet |
title_sort |
subglacial lake drainage detected beneath the greenland ice sheet |
publisher |
eScholarship, University of California |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4v52x0xv |
op_coverage |
8408 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet |
op_source |
Palmer, S; Mcmillan, M; & Morlighem, M. (2015). Subglacial lake drainage detected beneath the Greenland ice sheet. Nature Communications, 6, 8408. doi:10.1038/ncomms9408. UC Irvine: Retrieved from: http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4v52x0xv |
op_relation |
qt4v52x0xv http://www.escholarship.org/uc/item/4v52x0xv |
op_rights |
public |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9408 |
container_title |
Nature Communications |
container_volume |
6 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766254263709728768 |