Sensitivity of subglacial drainage to water supply distribution at the Kongsfjord basin, Svalbard
By regulating the amount, the timing, and the location of meltwater supply to the glacier bed, supraglacial hydrology potentially exerts a major control on the evolution of the subglacial drainage system, which in turn modulates ice velocity. Yet the configuration of the supraglacial hydrological sy...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications under license by EGU – European Geosciences Union GmbH
2021
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10852/92042 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-94633 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2719-2021 |
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ftoslouniv:oai:www.duo.uio.no:10852/92042 2023-05-15T16:22:09+02:00 Sensitivity of subglacial drainage to water supply distribution at the Kongsfjord basin, Svalbard Scholzen, Chloé Elisabeth Schuler, Thomas Vikhamar Gilbert, Adrien 2021-09-20T16:23:46Z http://hdl.handle.net/10852/92042 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-94633 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2719-2021 EN eng Copernicus Publications under license by EGU – European Geosciences Union GmbH NFR/301837 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-94633 Scholzen, Chloé Elisabeth Schuler, Thomas Vikhamar Gilbert, Adrien . Sensitivity of subglacial drainage to water supply distribution at the Kongsfjord basin, Svalbard. The Cryosphere. 2021, 15(6), 2719-2738 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/92042 1936241 info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=The Cryosphere&rft.volume=15&rft.spage=2719&rft.date=2021 The Cryosphere 15 6 2719 2738 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2719-2021 URN:NBN:no-94633 Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/92042/1/ScholzenetalSensitivityOfSubglacial.pdf Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY 1994-0416 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed PublishedVersion 2021 ftoslouniv https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2719-2021 2022-03-09T23:33:54Z By regulating the amount, the timing, and the location of meltwater supply to the glacier bed, supraglacial hydrology potentially exerts a major control on the evolution of the subglacial drainage system, which in turn modulates ice velocity. Yet the configuration of the supraglacial hydrological system has received only little attention in numerical models of subglacial hydrology so far. Here we apply the two-dimensional subglacial hydrology model GlaDS (Glacier Drainage System model) to a Svalbard glacier basin with the aim of investigating how the spatial distribution of meltwater recharge affects the characteristics of the basal drainage system. We design four experiments with various degrees of complexity in the way that meltwater is delivered to the subglacial drainage model. Our results show significant differences between experiments in the early summer transition from distributed to channelized drainage, with discrete recharge at moulins favouring channelization at higher elevations and driving overall lower water pressures. Otherwise, we find that water input configuration only poorly influences subglacial hydrology, which instead is controlled primarily by subglacial topography. All experiments fail to develop channels of sufficient efficiency to substantially reduce summertime water pressures, which we attribute to small surface gradients and short melt seasons. The findings of our study are potentially applicable to most Svalbard tidewater glaciers with similar topography and low meltwater recharge. The absence of efficient channelization implies that the dynamics of tidewater glaciers in the Svalbard archipelago may be sensitive to future long-term trends in meltwater supply. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Kongsfjord* Svalbard The Cryosphere Tidewater Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) Kongsfjord ENVELOPE(29.319,29.319,70.721,70.721) Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago The Cryosphere 15 6 2719 2738 |
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Open Polar |
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Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) |
op_collection_id |
ftoslouniv |
language |
English |
description |
By regulating the amount, the timing, and the location of meltwater supply to the glacier bed, supraglacial hydrology potentially exerts a major control on the evolution of the subglacial drainage system, which in turn modulates ice velocity. Yet the configuration of the supraglacial hydrological system has received only little attention in numerical models of subglacial hydrology so far. Here we apply the two-dimensional subglacial hydrology model GlaDS (Glacier Drainage System model) to a Svalbard glacier basin with the aim of investigating how the spatial distribution of meltwater recharge affects the characteristics of the basal drainage system. We design four experiments with various degrees of complexity in the way that meltwater is delivered to the subglacial drainage model. Our results show significant differences between experiments in the early summer transition from distributed to channelized drainage, with discrete recharge at moulins favouring channelization at higher elevations and driving overall lower water pressures. Otherwise, we find that water input configuration only poorly influences subglacial hydrology, which instead is controlled primarily by subglacial topography. All experiments fail to develop channels of sufficient efficiency to substantially reduce summertime water pressures, which we attribute to small surface gradients and short melt seasons. The findings of our study are potentially applicable to most Svalbard tidewater glaciers with similar topography and low meltwater recharge. The absence of efficient channelization implies that the dynamics of tidewater glaciers in the Svalbard archipelago may be sensitive to future long-term trends in meltwater supply. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Scholzen, Chloé Elisabeth Schuler, Thomas Vikhamar Gilbert, Adrien |
spellingShingle |
Scholzen, Chloé Elisabeth Schuler, Thomas Vikhamar Gilbert, Adrien Sensitivity of subglacial drainage to water supply distribution at the Kongsfjord basin, Svalbard |
author_facet |
Scholzen, Chloé Elisabeth Schuler, Thomas Vikhamar Gilbert, Adrien |
author_sort |
Scholzen, Chloé Elisabeth |
title |
Sensitivity of subglacial drainage to water supply distribution at the Kongsfjord basin, Svalbard |
title_short |
Sensitivity of subglacial drainage to water supply distribution at the Kongsfjord basin, Svalbard |
title_full |
Sensitivity of subglacial drainage to water supply distribution at the Kongsfjord basin, Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Sensitivity of subglacial drainage to water supply distribution at the Kongsfjord basin, Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Sensitivity of subglacial drainage to water supply distribution at the Kongsfjord basin, Svalbard |
title_sort |
sensitivity of subglacial drainage to water supply distribution at the kongsfjord basin, svalbard |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications under license by EGU – European Geosciences Union GmbH |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10852/92042 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-94633 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2719-2021 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(29.319,29.319,70.721,70.721) |
geographic |
Kongsfjord Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
geographic_facet |
Kongsfjord Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
genre |
glacier Kongsfjord* Svalbard The Cryosphere Tidewater |
genre_facet |
glacier Kongsfjord* Svalbard The Cryosphere Tidewater |
op_source |
1994-0416 |
op_relation |
NFR/301837 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-94633 Scholzen, Chloé Elisabeth Schuler, Thomas Vikhamar Gilbert, Adrien . Sensitivity of subglacial drainage to water supply distribution at the Kongsfjord basin, Svalbard. The Cryosphere. 2021, 15(6), 2719-2738 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/92042 1936241 info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=The Cryosphere&rft.volume=15&rft.spage=2719&rft.date=2021 The Cryosphere 15 6 2719 2738 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2719-2021 URN:NBN:no-94633 Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/92042/1/ScholzenetalSensitivityOfSubglacial.pdf |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2719-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
2719 |
op_container_end_page |
2738 |
_version_ |
1766010122914496512 |