Flow-switching and water piracy between Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica
Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet are neighbouring glaciers in West Antarctica. Rutford Ice Stream flows at speeds greater than 350m a(-1), whereas Carlson Inlet, which has some similar dimensions and supports a similar driving stress, flows 10-50 times slower. We discuss a range of observations...
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International Glaciological Society
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ftnerc:oai:nora.nerc.ac.uk:11651 2023-05-15T13:45:10+02:00 Flow-switching and water piracy between Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica Vaughan, David G. Corr, Hugh F.J. Smith, Andy M. Pritchard, Hamish D. Shepherd, Andrew 2008 text http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/11651/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/11651/1/s4.pdf en eng International Glaciological Society https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/11651/1/s4.pdf Vaughan, David G. orcid:0000-0002-9065-0570 Corr, Hugh F.J.; Smith, Andy M. orcid:0000-0001-8577-482X Pritchard, Hamish D. orcid:0000-0003-2936-1734 Shepherd, Andrew. 2008 Flow-switching and water piracy between Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology, 54 (184). 41-48. https://doi.org/10.3189/002214308784409125 <https://doi.org/10.3189/002214308784409125> Glaciology Hydrology Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2008 ftnerc https://doi.org/10.3189/002214308784409125 2023-02-04T19:27:30Z Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet are neighbouring glaciers in West Antarctica. Rutford Ice Stream flows at speeds greater than 350m a(-1), whereas Carlson Inlet, which has some similar dimensions and supports a similar driving stress, flows 10-50 times slower. We discuss a range of observations concerning Carlson Inlet, and conclude that there is good indirect evidence that it is a relict ice stream, which ceased streaming more than 240 years BP, but sufficiently recently that its surface morphology, basal water content and basal morphology still retain characteristics produced by streaming. An analysis of expected subglacial drainage pathways indicates that Carlson Inlet is not streaming because it is currently starved of subglacial water, which is currently directed beneath Rutford Ice Stream. This current state of water piracy by Rutford Ice Stream is, however, sensitive to minor thickness changes on the ice streams; a similar to 120 m (<4%) thickening of Rutford Ice Stream would divert almost all the subglacial water in the system towards Carlson Inlet and could reactivate its flow. The result highlights the importance of subglacial drainage in controlling ice-stream evolution and the requirement for ice-sheet models to couple ice flow with subglacial drainage. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica Antarctica Journal Ice Sheet Journal of Glaciology Rutford Ice Stream West Antarctica Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive Carlson Inlet ENVELOPE(-80.000,-80.000,-77.833,-77.833) Rutford ENVELOPE(-85.300,-85.300,-78.600,-78.600) Rutford Ice Stream ENVELOPE(-80.000,-80.000,-79.167,-79.167) West Antarctica Journal of Glaciology 54 184 41 48 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Natural Environment Research Council: NERC Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftnerc |
language |
English |
topic |
Glaciology Hydrology |
spellingShingle |
Glaciology Hydrology Vaughan, David G. Corr, Hugh F.J. Smith, Andy M. Pritchard, Hamish D. Shepherd, Andrew Flow-switching and water piracy between Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica |
topic_facet |
Glaciology Hydrology |
description |
Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet are neighbouring glaciers in West Antarctica. Rutford Ice Stream flows at speeds greater than 350m a(-1), whereas Carlson Inlet, which has some similar dimensions and supports a similar driving stress, flows 10-50 times slower. We discuss a range of observations concerning Carlson Inlet, and conclude that there is good indirect evidence that it is a relict ice stream, which ceased streaming more than 240 years BP, but sufficiently recently that its surface morphology, basal water content and basal morphology still retain characteristics produced by streaming. An analysis of expected subglacial drainage pathways indicates that Carlson Inlet is not streaming because it is currently starved of subglacial water, which is currently directed beneath Rutford Ice Stream. This current state of water piracy by Rutford Ice Stream is, however, sensitive to minor thickness changes on the ice streams; a similar to 120 m (<4%) thickening of Rutford Ice Stream would divert almost all the subglacial water in the system towards Carlson Inlet and could reactivate its flow. The result highlights the importance of subglacial drainage in controlling ice-stream evolution and the requirement for ice-sheet models to couple ice flow with subglacial drainage. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Vaughan, David G. Corr, Hugh F.J. Smith, Andy M. Pritchard, Hamish D. Shepherd, Andrew |
author_facet |
Vaughan, David G. Corr, Hugh F.J. Smith, Andy M. Pritchard, Hamish D. Shepherd, Andrew |
author_sort |
Vaughan, David G. |
title |
Flow-switching and water piracy between Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica |
title_short |
Flow-switching and water piracy between Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica |
title_full |
Flow-switching and water piracy between Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica |
title_fullStr |
Flow-switching and water piracy between Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica |
title_full_unstemmed |
Flow-switching and water piracy between Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica |
title_sort |
flow-switching and water piracy between rutford ice stream and carlson inlet, west antarctica |
publisher |
International Glaciological Society |
publishDate |
2008 |
url |
http://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/11651/ https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/11651/1/s4.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-80.000,-80.000,-77.833,-77.833) ENVELOPE(-85.300,-85.300,-78.600,-78.600) ENVELOPE(-80.000,-80.000,-79.167,-79.167) |
geographic |
Carlson Inlet Rutford Rutford Ice Stream West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
Carlson Inlet Rutford Rutford Ice Stream West Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica Antarctica Journal Ice Sheet Journal of Glaciology Rutford Ice Stream West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica Antarctica Journal Ice Sheet Journal of Glaciology Rutford Ice Stream West Antarctica |
op_relation |
https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/11651/1/s4.pdf Vaughan, David G. orcid:0000-0002-9065-0570 Corr, Hugh F.J.; Smith, Andy M. orcid:0000-0001-8577-482X Pritchard, Hamish D. orcid:0000-0003-2936-1734 Shepherd, Andrew. 2008 Flow-switching and water piracy between Rutford Ice Stream and Carlson Inlet, West Antarctica. Journal of Glaciology, 54 (184). 41-48. https://doi.org/10.3189/002214308784409125 <https://doi.org/10.3189/002214308784409125> |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3189/002214308784409125 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
54 |
container_issue |
184 |
container_start_page |
41 |
op_container_end_page |
48 |
_version_ |
1766214694604898304 |