Changing position of the GPS receivers over those periods including the two lake drainage events

• Main Authors: Tedesco, Marco, Willis, Ian C, Hoffman, Matthew J, Banwell, Alison F, Alexander, Patrick, Arnold, Neil S
• Format: Still Image
• Language: unknown
• Published: IOP Publishing 2013
• Subjects: Environmental Science; Greenland; Ice Sheet
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.1011477; https://iop.figshare.com/articles/figure/_Changing_position_of_the_GPS_receivers_over_those_periods_including_the_two_lake_drainage_events/1011477

Figure 4. Changing position of the GPS receivers over those periods including the two lake drainage events. East–west and south–north relative positions for the days 16–20 June 2011. Note the trajectories of flow are from right to left in this figure. Abstract Supraglacial lake drainage on the Greenland ice sheet opens surface-to-bed connections, reduces basal friction, and temporarily increases ice flow velocities by up to an order of magnitude. Existing field-based observations of lake drainages and their impact on ice dynamics are limited, and focus on one specific draining mechanism. Here, we report and analyse global positioning system measurements of ice velocity and elevation made at five locations surrounding two lakes that drained by different mechanisms and produced different dynamic responses. For the lake that drained slowly (>24 h) by overtopping its basin, delivering water via a channel to a pre-existing moulin, speedup and uplift were less than half those associated with a lake that drained rapidly (~2 h) through hydrofracturing and the creation of new moulins in the lake bottom. Our results suggest that the mode and associated rate of lake drainage govern the impact on ice dynamics.