Internal Drainage of Stagnant Ice: Burroughs Glacier, Southeast Alaska

• Main Author: Larson, Grahame J.
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Institute of Polar Studies, The Ohio State University. 1977
• Subjects: Burroughs Glacier; Alaska; Glacier ice; Glacial meltwater; Glacier Bay; glacier
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1811/51678

Burroughs Glacier is a temperate glacier in Glacier Bay National Monument, southeastern Alaska. Presently, it is rapidly wasting away leaving behind several remnants of stagnating glacier ice which have become detached or semi-detached from the main glacier body. A detailed hydrologic investigation of one glacier remnant has shown that the internal drainage system developed within stagnating ice is, in many respects, similar to karstic drainage systems developed in limestones. Meltwater produced on the stagnant surface appears to infiltrate into the ice via "vein-like" channels between disintegrated ice crystals and along fracture and shear planes that cut the ice. Within the ice, meltwater is temporarily stored in a saturated zone and eventually discharges into moulins. The coefficient of transmissibility, storage, and permeability of ice in the saturated zone were measured by pump testing and were found to average 6.64 m²day-1, 6.9 x 10 x 10-3, and 2.21 m day-1, respectively. From the moulins, drainage is routed through a system of englacial channels which successively join together downstream forming a main englacial drainageway in semi-lateral position. National Science Foundation Grant GA12300.