Advances in understanding subglacial meltwater drainage from past ice sheets

• Published in: Annals of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Lauren M. Simkins, Sarah L. Greenwood, Monica C. M. Winsborrow, Lilja R. Bjarnadóttir, Allison P. Lepp
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press 2022
• Subjects: Geomorphology; glacier hydrology; sedimentology; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Annals of Glaciology; Ice Sheet; Ice Shelf
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2023.16; https://doaj.org/article/0e2f7a8d76494a82b608c2edb480964a

Meltwater drainage beneath ice sheets is a fundamental consideration for understanding ice–bed conditions and bed-modulated ice flow, with potential impacts on terminus behavior and ice-shelf mass balance. While contemporary observations reveal the presence of basal water movement in the subglacial environment and inferred styles of drainage, the geological record of former ice sheets, including sediments and landforms on land and the seafloor, aids in understanding the spatiotemporal evolution of efficient and inefficient drainage systems and their impact on ice-sheet behavior. We highlight the past decade of advances in geological studies that focus on providing process-based information on subglacial hydrology of ice sheets, how these studies inform theory, numerical models and contemporary observations, and address the needs for future research.