Filling and drainage of a subglacial lake beneath the Flade Isblink ice cap, northeast Greenland
The generation, transport, storage and drainage of meltwater play important roles in the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) subglacial system. Active subglacial lakes, common features in Antarctica, have recently been detected beneath the GrIS and may impact ice sheet hydrology. Despite their potential impo...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:b897317a93d14ceb91abbb28f6114b77 2023-05-15T13:51:07+02:00 Filling and drainage of a subglacial lake beneath the Flade Isblink ice cap, northeast Greenland Q. Liang W. Xiao I. Howat X. Cheng F. Hui Z. Chen M. Jiang L. Zheng 2022-07-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2671-2022 https://doaj.org/article/b897317a93d14ceb91abbb28f6114b77 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/2671/2022/tc-16-2671-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-16-2671-2022 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/b897317a93d14ceb91abbb28f6114b77 The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 2671-2681 (2022) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2022 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2671-2022 2022-12-31T02:03:48Z The generation, transport, storage and drainage of meltwater play important roles in the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) subglacial system. Active subglacial lakes, common features in Antarctica, have recently been detected beneath the GrIS and may impact ice sheet hydrology. Despite their potential importance, few repeat subglacial lake filling and drainage events have been identified in Greenland. Here we examine the surface elevation change of a collapse basin at the Flade Isblink ice cap, northeast Greenland, which formed due to sudden subglacial lake drainage in 2011. We estimate the subglacial lake volume evolution using multi-temporal ArcticDEM data and ICESat-2 altimetry data acquired between 2012 and 2021. Our long-term observations show that the subglacial lake was continuously filled by surface meltwater, with the basin surface rising by up to 55 m during 2012–2021, and we estimate 138.2 × 10 6 m 3 of meltwater was transported into the subglacial lake between 2012 and 2017. A second rapid drainage event occurred in late August 2019, which induced an abrupt ice dynamic response. We find that the 2019 drainage released much less water than the 2011 event and conclude that multiple factors, such as the volume of water stored in the subglacial lake and bedrock relief, regulate the episodic filling and drainage of the lake. By comparing the surface meltwater production and the subglacial lake volume change, we find that only ∼ 64 % of the surface meltwater descended to the bed, suggesting potential processes such as meltwater refreezing and firn aquifer storage, which need to be further quantified. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice cap Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Greenland Flade Isblink ENVELOPE(-15.000,-15.000,81.583,81.583) The Cryosphere 16 7 2671 2681 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 Q. Liang W. Xiao I. Howat X. Cheng F. Hui Z. Chen M. Jiang L. Zheng Filling and drainage of a subglacial lake beneath the Flade Isblink ice cap, northeast Greenland |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
The generation, transport, storage and drainage of meltwater play important roles in the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) subglacial system. Active subglacial lakes, common features in Antarctica, have recently been detected beneath the GrIS and may impact ice sheet hydrology. Despite their potential importance, few repeat subglacial lake filling and drainage events have been identified in Greenland. Here we examine the surface elevation change of a collapse basin at the Flade Isblink ice cap, northeast Greenland, which formed due to sudden subglacial lake drainage in 2011. We estimate the subglacial lake volume evolution using multi-temporal ArcticDEM data and ICESat-2 altimetry data acquired between 2012 and 2021. Our long-term observations show that the subglacial lake was continuously filled by surface meltwater, with the basin surface rising by up to 55 m during 2012–2021, and we estimate 138.2 × 10 6 m 3 of meltwater was transported into the subglacial lake between 2012 and 2017. A second rapid drainage event occurred in late August 2019, which induced an abrupt ice dynamic response. We find that the 2019 drainage released much less water than the 2011 event and conclude that multiple factors, such as the volume of water stored in the subglacial lake and bedrock relief, regulate the episodic filling and drainage of the lake. By comparing the surface meltwater production and the subglacial lake volume change, we find that only ∼ 64 % of the surface meltwater descended to the bed, suggesting potential processes such as meltwater refreezing and firn aquifer storage, which need to be further quantified. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Q. Liang W. Xiao I. Howat X. Cheng F. Hui Z. Chen M. Jiang L. Zheng |
author_facet |
Q. Liang W. Xiao I. Howat X. Cheng F. Hui Z. Chen M. Jiang L. Zheng |
author_sort |
Q. Liang |
title |
Filling and drainage of a subglacial lake beneath the Flade Isblink ice cap, northeast Greenland |
title_short |
Filling and drainage of a subglacial lake beneath the Flade Isblink ice cap, northeast Greenland |
title_full |
Filling and drainage of a subglacial lake beneath the Flade Isblink ice cap, northeast Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Filling and drainage of a subglacial lake beneath the Flade Isblink ice cap, northeast Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Filling and drainage of a subglacial lake beneath the Flade Isblink ice cap, northeast Greenland |
title_sort |
filling and drainage of a subglacial lake beneath the flade isblink ice cap, northeast greenland |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2671-2022 https://doaj.org/article/b897317a93d14ceb91abbb28f6114b77 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-15.000,-15.000,81.583,81.583) |
geographic |
Greenland Flade Isblink |
geographic_facet |
Greenland Flade Isblink |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice cap Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Greenland Ice cap Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 16, Pp 2671-2681 (2022) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/2671/2022/tc-16-2671-2022.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-16-2671-2022 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/b897317a93d14ceb91abbb28f6114b77 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-2671-2022 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
16 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
2671 |
op_container_end_page |
2681 |
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1766254710652665856 |