Ice-Dammed Lake Drainage Evolution at Russell Glacier, West Greenland
KEY POINTS/HIGHLIGHTSTwo rapid ice-dammed lake drainage events gauged and ice dam geometry measured.A melt enlargement model is developed to examine the evolution of drainage mechanism(s).Lake temperature dominated conduit melt enlargement and we hypothesize a flotation trigger.Glaciological and hyd...
Published in: | Frontiers in Earth Science |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Frontiers Media S.A.
2017
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2017.00100 https://doaj.org/article/6d61ae6fe7a84373b4cce24a843bf15d |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:6d61ae6fe7a84373b4cce24a843bf15d |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:6d61ae6fe7a84373b4cce24a843bf15d 2023-05-15T16:21:13+02:00 Ice-Dammed Lake Drainage Evolution at Russell Glacier, West Greenland Jonathan L. Carrivick Fiona S. Tweed Felix Ng Duncan J. Quincey Joseph Mallalieu Thomas Ingeman-Nielsen Andreas B. Mikkelsen Steven J. Palmer Jacob C. Yde Rachel Homer Andrew J. Russell Alun Hubbard 2017-11-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2017.00100 https://doaj.org/article/6d61ae6fe7a84373b4cce24a843bf15d EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feart.2017.00100/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2017.00100 https://doaj.org/article/6d61ae6fe7a84373b4cce24a843bf15d Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 5 (2017) ice-marginal lake proglacial lake glacier lake jökulhlaup GLOF Science Q article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2017.00100 2022-12-31T08:49:23Z KEY POINTS/HIGHLIGHTSTwo rapid ice-dammed lake drainage events gauged and ice dam geometry measured.A melt enlargement model is developed to examine the evolution of drainage mechanism(s).Lake temperature dominated conduit melt enlargement and we hypothesize a flotation trigger.Glaciological and hydraulic factors that control the timing and mechanisms of glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) remain poorly understood. This study used measurements of lake level at 15 min intervals and known lake bathymetry to calculate lake outflow during two GLOF events from the northern margin of Russell Glacier, west Greenland. We used measured ice surface elevation, interpolated subglacial topography and likely conduit geometry to inform a melt enlargement model of the outburst evolution. The model was tuned to best-fit the hydrograph rising limb and timing of peak discharge in both events; it achieved Mean Absolute Errors of <5%. About one third of the way through the rising limb, conduit melt enlargement became the dominant drainage mechanism. Lake water temperature, which strongly governed the enlargement rate, preconditioned the high peak discharge and short duration of these floods. We hypothesize that both GLOFs were triggered by ice dam flotation, and localized hydraulic jacking sustained most of their early-stage outflow, explaining the particularly rapid water egress in comparison to that recorded at other ice-marginal lakes. As ice overburden pressure relative to lake water hydraulic head diminished, flow became confined to a subglacial conduit. This study has emphasized the inter-play between ice dam thickness and lake level, drainage timing, lake water temperature and consequently rising stage lake outflow and flood evolution. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland Dammed Lake ENVELOPE(-68.258,-68.258,68.496,68.496) Marginal Lake ENVELOPE(163.500,163.500,-74.600,-74.600) Frontiers in Earth Science 5 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
ice-marginal lake proglacial lake glacier lake jökulhlaup GLOF Science Q |
spellingShingle |
ice-marginal lake proglacial lake glacier lake jökulhlaup GLOF Science Q Jonathan L. Carrivick Fiona S. Tweed Felix Ng Duncan J. Quincey Joseph Mallalieu Thomas Ingeman-Nielsen Andreas B. Mikkelsen Steven J. Palmer Jacob C. Yde Rachel Homer Andrew J. Russell Alun Hubbard Ice-Dammed Lake Drainage Evolution at Russell Glacier, West Greenland |
topic_facet |
ice-marginal lake proglacial lake glacier lake jökulhlaup GLOF Science Q |
description |
KEY POINTS/HIGHLIGHTSTwo rapid ice-dammed lake drainage events gauged and ice dam geometry measured.A melt enlargement model is developed to examine the evolution of drainage mechanism(s).Lake temperature dominated conduit melt enlargement and we hypothesize a flotation trigger.Glaciological and hydraulic factors that control the timing and mechanisms of glacier lake outburst floods (GLOFs) remain poorly understood. This study used measurements of lake level at 15 min intervals and known lake bathymetry to calculate lake outflow during two GLOF events from the northern margin of Russell Glacier, west Greenland. We used measured ice surface elevation, interpolated subglacial topography and likely conduit geometry to inform a melt enlargement model of the outburst evolution. The model was tuned to best-fit the hydrograph rising limb and timing of peak discharge in both events; it achieved Mean Absolute Errors of <5%. About one third of the way through the rising limb, conduit melt enlargement became the dominant drainage mechanism. Lake water temperature, which strongly governed the enlargement rate, preconditioned the high peak discharge and short duration of these floods. We hypothesize that both GLOFs were triggered by ice dam flotation, and localized hydraulic jacking sustained most of their early-stage outflow, explaining the particularly rapid water egress in comparison to that recorded at other ice-marginal lakes. As ice overburden pressure relative to lake water hydraulic head diminished, flow became confined to a subglacial conduit. This study has emphasized the inter-play between ice dam thickness and lake level, drainage timing, lake water temperature and consequently rising stage lake outflow and flood evolution. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jonathan L. Carrivick Fiona S. Tweed Felix Ng Duncan J. Quincey Joseph Mallalieu Thomas Ingeman-Nielsen Andreas B. Mikkelsen Steven J. Palmer Jacob C. Yde Rachel Homer Andrew J. Russell Alun Hubbard |
author_facet |
Jonathan L. Carrivick Fiona S. Tweed Felix Ng Duncan J. Quincey Joseph Mallalieu Thomas Ingeman-Nielsen Andreas B. Mikkelsen Steven J. Palmer Jacob C. Yde Rachel Homer Andrew J. Russell Alun Hubbard |
author_sort |
Jonathan L. Carrivick |
title |
Ice-Dammed Lake Drainage Evolution at Russell Glacier, West Greenland |
title_short |
Ice-Dammed Lake Drainage Evolution at Russell Glacier, West Greenland |
title_full |
Ice-Dammed Lake Drainage Evolution at Russell Glacier, West Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Ice-Dammed Lake Drainage Evolution at Russell Glacier, West Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Ice-Dammed Lake Drainage Evolution at Russell Glacier, West Greenland |
title_sort |
ice-dammed lake drainage evolution at russell glacier, west greenland |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2017.00100 https://doaj.org/article/6d61ae6fe7a84373b4cce24a843bf15d |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-68.258,-68.258,68.496,68.496) ENVELOPE(163.500,163.500,-74.600,-74.600) |
geographic |
Greenland Dammed Lake Marginal Lake |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Dammed Lake Marginal Lake |
genre |
glacier Greenland |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland |
op_source |
Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 5 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feart.2017.00100/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2017.00100 https://doaj.org/article/6d61ae6fe7a84373b4cce24a843bf15d |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2017.00100 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Earth Science |
container_volume |
5 |
_version_ |
1766009226832904192 |