Thermal structure of proglacial lakes in Patagonia
Calving glaciers are rapidly retreating in many regions under the influence of ice-water interactions at the glacier front. In contrast to the numerous researches conducted on fjords in front of tidewater glaciers, very few studies have been reported on lakes in which freshwater calving glaciers ter...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
American Geophysical Union
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/2115/64883 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF004084 |
id |
fthokunivhus:oai:eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp:2115/64883 |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
fthokunivhus:oai:eprints.lib.hokudai.ac.jp:2115/64883 2023-05-15T18:33:04+02:00 Thermal structure of proglacial lakes in Patagonia Sugiyama, Shin Minowa, Masahiro Sakakibara, Daiki Skvarca, Pedro Sawagaki, Takanobu Ohashi, Yoshihiko Naito, Nozomu Chikita, Kazuhisa http://hdl.handle.net/2115/64883 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF004084 eng eng American Geophysical Union http://hdl.handle.net/2115/64883 Journal of geophysical research earth surface, 121(12): 2270-2286 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016JF004084 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ CC-BY-NC article fthokunivhus https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF004084 2022-11-18T01:04:10Z Calving glaciers are rapidly retreating in many regions under the influence of ice-water interactions at the glacier front. In contrast to the numerous researches conducted on fjords in front of tidewater glaciers, very few studies have been reported on lakes in which freshwater calving glaciers terminate. To better understand ice-water interactions at the front of freshwater calving glaciers, we measured lakewater temperature, turbidity, and bathymetry near Glaciar Perito Moreno, Upsala, and Viedma, large calving glaciers of the Southern Patagonia Icefield. The thermal structures of these lakes were significantly different from those reported in glacial fjords. There was no indication of upwelling subglacial meltwater; instead, turbid and cold glacial water discharge filled the region near the lake bottom. This was because water density was controlled by suspended sediment concentrations rather than by water temperature. Near-surface wind-driven circulation reaches a depth of similar to 180 m, forming a relatively warm isothermal layer (mean temperature of similar to 5-6 degrees C at Perito Moreno, similar to 3-4 degrees C at Upsala, and similar to 6-7 degrees C at Viedma), which should convey heat energy to the ice-water interface. However, the deeper part of the glacier front is in contact with stratified cold water, implying a limited amount of melting there. In the lake in front of Glaciar Viedma, the region deeper than 120 m was filled entirely with turbid and very cold water at pressure melting temperature. Our results revealed a previously unexplored thermal structure of proglacial lakes in Patagonia, suggesting its importance in the subaqueous melting of freshwater calving glaciers. Article in Journal/Newspaper Tidewater Hokkaido University Collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers (HUSCAP) Moreno ENVELOPE(-62.300,-62.300,-64.083,-64.083) Patagonia Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 121 12 2270 2286 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Hokkaido University Collection of Scholarly and Academic Papers (HUSCAP) |
op_collection_id |
fthokunivhus |
language |
English |
description |
Calving glaciers are rapidly retreating in many regions under the influence of ice-water interactions at the glacier front. In contrast to the numerous researches conducted on fjords in front of tidewater glaciers, very few studies have been reported on lakes in which freshwater calving glaciers terminate. To better understand ice-water interactions at the front of freshwater calving glaciers, we measured lakewater temperature, turbidity, and bathymetry near Glaciar Perito Moreno, Upsala, and Viedma, large calving glaciers of the Southern Patagonia Icefield. The thermal structures of these lakes were significantly different from those reported in glacial fjords. There was no indication of upwelling subglacial meltwater; instead, turbid and cold glacial water discharge filled the region near the lake bottom. This was because water density was controlled by suspended sediment concentrations rather than by water temperature. Near-surface wind-driven circulation reaches a depth of similar to 180 m, forming a relatively warm isothermal layer (mean temperature of similar to 5-6 degrees C at Perito Moreno, similar to 3-4 degrees C at Upsala, and similar to 6-7 degrees C at Viedma), which should convey heat energy to the ice-water interface. However, the deeper part of the glacier front is in contact with stratified cold water, implying a limited amount of melting there. In the lake in front of Glaciar Viedma, the region deeper than 120 m was filled entirely with turbid and very cold water at pressure melting temperature. Our results revealed a previously unexplored thermal structure of proglacial lakes in Patagonia, suggesting its importance in the subaqueous melting of freshwater calving glaciers. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sugiyama, Shin Minowa, Masahiro Sakakibara, Daiki Skvarca, Pedro Sawagaki, Takanobu Ohashi, Yoshihiko Naito, Nozomu Chikita, Kazuhisa |
spellingShingle |
Sugiyama, Shin Minowa, Masahiro Sakakibara, Daiki Skvarca, Pedro Sawagaki, Takanobu Ohashi, Yoshihiko Naito, Nozomu Chikita, Kazuhisa Thermal structure of proglacial lakes in Patagonia |
author_facet |
Sugiyama, Shin Minowa, Masahiro Sakakibara, Daiki Skvarca, Pedro Sawagaki, Takanobu Ohashi, Yoshihiko Naito, Nozomu Chikita, Kazuhisa |
author_sort |
Sugiyama, Shin |
title |
Thermal structure of proglacial lakes in Patagonia |
title_short |
Thermal structure of proglacial lakes in Patagonia |
title_full |
Thermal structure of proglacial lakes in Patagonia |
title_fullStr |
Thermal structure of proglacial lakes in Patagonia |
title_full_unstemmed |
Thermal structure of proglacial lakes in Patagonia |
title_sort |
thermal structure of proglacial lakes in patagonia |
publisher |
American Geophysical Union |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/2115/64883 https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF004084 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-62.300,-62.300,-64.083,-64.083) |
geographic |
Moreno Patagonia |
geographic_facet |
Moreno Patagonia |
genre |
Tidewater |
genre_facet |
Tidewater |
op_relation |
http://hdl.handle.net/2115/64883 Journal of geophysical research earth surface, 121(12): 2270-2286 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016JF004084 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY-NC |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF004084 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface |
container_volume |
121 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
2270 |
op_container_end_page |
2286 |
_version_ |
1766217359530393600 |