Annual down-glacier drainage of lakes and water-filled crevasses at Helheim Glacier, southeast Greenland
Supraglacial lake drainage events are common on the Greenland ice sheet. Observations on the west coast typically show an up-glacier progression of drainage as the annual melt extent spreads inland. We use a suite of remote sensing and modeling techniques in order to study a series of lakes and wate...
Published in: | Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface |
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Language: | English |
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Online Access: | http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7284/ http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7284/1/Everett_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research-_Earth_Surface.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF003831 |
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ftplymouthml:oai:plymsea.ac.uk:7284 2023-05-15T13:57:46+02:00 Annual down-glacier drainage of lakes and water-filled crevasses at Helheim Glacier, southeast Greenland Everett, A Murray, T Selmes, N Rutt, IC Luckman, A James, TD Clason, C O'Leary, M Karunarathna, H Moloney, V Reeve, DE 2016-11-12 text http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7284/ http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7284/1/Everett_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research-_Earth_Surface.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF003831 en eng http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7284/1/Everett_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research-_Earth_Surface.pdf Everett, A; Murray, T; Selmes, N; Rutt, IC; Luckman, A; James, TD; Clason, C; O'Leary, M; Karunarathna, H; Moloney, V; Reeve, DE. 2016 Annual down-glacier drainage of lakes and water-filled crevasses at Helheim Glacier, southeast Greenland. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 121 (10). 1819-1833. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF003831 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF003831> cc_by CC-BY Earth Observation - Remote Sensing Publication - Article PeerReviewed 2016 ftplymouthml https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF003831 2022-09-13T05:48:56Z Supraglacial lake drainage events are common on the Greenland ice sheet. Observations on the west coast typically show an up-glacier progression of drainage as the annual melt extent spreads inland. We use a suite of remote sensing and modeling techniques in order to study a series of lakes and water-filled crevasses within 20 km of the terminus of Helheim Glacier, southeast Greenland. Automatic classification of surface water areas shows a down-glacier progression of drainage, which occurs in the majority of years between 2007 and 2014. We demonstrate that a linear elastic fracture mechanics model can reliably predict the drainage of the uppermost supraglacial lake in the system but cannot explain the pattern of filling and draining observed in areas of surface water downstream. We propose that the water levels in crevasses downstream of the supraglacial lake can be explained by a transient high-pressure wave passing through the subglacial system following the lake drainage. We support this hypothesis with analysis of the subglacial hydrological conditions, which can explain both the position and interannual variation in filling order of these crevasses. Similar behavior has been observed in association with jökulhaups, surging glaciers, and Antarctic subglacial lakes but has not previously been observed on major outlets of the Greenland ice sheet. Our results suggest that the behavior of near-terminus surface water may differ considerably from that of inland supraglacial lakes, with the potential for basal water pressures to influence the presence of surface water in crevasses close to the terminus of tidewater glaciers. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Tidewater Plymouth Marine Science Electronic Archive (PlyMSEA - Plymouth Marine Laboratory, PML) Antarctic Greenland Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface 121 10 1819 1833 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Plymouth Marine Science Electronic Archive (PlyMSEA - Plymouth Marine Laboratory, PML) |
op_collection_id |
ftplymouthml |
language |
English |
topic |
Earth Observation - Remote Sensing |
spellingShingle |
Earth Observation - Remote Sensing Everett, A Murray, T Selmes, N Rutt, IC Luckman, A James, TD Clason, C O'Leary, M Karunarathna, H Moloney, V Reeve, DE Annual down-glacier drainage of lakes and water-filled crevasses at Helheim Glacier, southeast Greenland |
topic_facet |
Earth Observation - Remote Sensing |
description |
Supraglacial lake drainage events are common on the Greenland ice sheet. Observations on the west coast typically show an up-glacier progression of drainage as the annual melt extent spreads inland. We use a suite of remote sensing and modeling techniques in order to study a series of lakes and water-filled crevasses within 20 km of the terminus of Helheim Glacier, southeast Greenland. Automatic classification of surface water areas shows a down-glacier progression of drainage, which occurs in the majority of years between 2007 and 2014. We demonstrate that a linear elastic fracture mechanics model can reliably predict the drainage of the uppermost supraglacial lake in the system but cannot explain the pattern of filling and draining observed in areas of surface water downstream. We propose that the water levels in crevasses downstream of the supraglacial lake can be explained by a transient high-pressure wave passing through the subglacial system following the lake drainage. We support this hypothesis with analysis of the subglacial hydrological conditions, which can explain both the position and interannual variation in filling order of these crevasses. Similar behavior has been observed in association with jökulhaups, surging glaciers, and Antarctic subglacial lakes but has not previously been observed on major outlets of the Greenland ice sheet. Our results suggest that the behavior of near-terminus surface water may differ considerably from that of inland supraglacial lakes, with the potential for basal water pressures to influence the presence of surface water in crevasses close to the terminus of tidewater glaciers. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Everett, A Murray, T Selmes, N Rutt, IC Luckman, A James, TD Clason, C O'Leary, M Karunarathna, H Moloney, V Reeve, DE |
author_facet |
Everett, A Murray, T Selmes, N Rutt, IC Luckman, A James, TD Clason, C O'Leary, M Karunarathna, H Moloney, V Reeve, DE |
author_sort |
Everett, A |
title |
Annual down-glacier drainage of lakes and water-filled crevasses at Helheim Glacier, southeast Greenland |
title_short |
Annual down-glacier drainage of lakes and water-filled crevasses at Helheim Glacier, southeast Greenland |
title_full |
Annual down-glacier drainage of lakes and water-filled crevasses at Helheim Glacier, southeast Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Annual down-glacier drainage of lakes and water-filled crevasses at Helheim Glacier, southeast Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Annual down-glacier drainage of lakes and water-filled crevasses at Helheim Glacier, southeast Greenland |
title_sort |
annual down-glacier drainage of lakes and water-filled crevasses at helheim glacier, southeast greenland |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7284/ http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7284/1/Everett_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research-_Earth_Surface.pdf https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF003831 |
geographic |
Antarctic Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Greenland |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Tidewater |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Tidewater |
op_relation |
http://plymsea.ac.uk/id/eprint/7284/1/Everett_et_al-2016-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research-_Earth_Surface.pdf Everett, A; Murray, T; Selmes, N; Rutt, IC; Luckman, A; James, TD; Clason, C; O'Leary, M; Karunarathna, H; Moloney, V; Reeve, DE. 2016 Annual down-glacier drainage of lakes and water-filled crevasses at Helheim Glacier, southeast Greenland. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 121 (10). 1819-1833. https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF003831 <https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF003831> |
op_rights |
cc_by |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JF003831 |
container_title |
Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface |
container_volume |
121 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
1819 |
op_container_end_page |
1833 |
_version_ |
1766265654323707904 |