Thermodynamics of a fast-moving Greenlandic outlet glacier revealed by fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing

Funding: This research was funded by the European Research Council as part of the RESPONDER project under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant 683043). R.L. and T.R.C. were supported by Natural Environment Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership studentship...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science Advances
Main Authors: Law, Robert, Christoffersen, Poul, Hubbard, Bryn, Doyle, Samuel H, Chudley, Thomas R, Schoonman, Charlotte M, Bougamont, Marion, des Tombe, Bas, Schilperoort, Bart, Kechavarzi, Cedric, Booth, Adam, Young, Tun Jan
Other Authors: University of St Andrews. School of Geography & Sustainable Development
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: 2023
Subjects:
GB Physical geography
GE Environmental Sciences
DAS
SDG 14 - Life Below Water
MCC
GB
GE
Greenland
Kujalleq
glacier
greenlandic
Sermeq Kujalleq
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10023/27372
https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abe7136
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Summary:Funding: This research was funded by the European Research Council as part of the RESPONDER project under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (grant 683043). R.L. and T.R.C. were supported by Natural Environment Research Council Doctoral Training Partnership studentships (grant NE/ L002507/1). B.H. was supported by a HEFCW/Aberystwyth University Capital Equipment Grant. Measurements of ice temperature provide crucial constraints on ice viscosity and the thermodynamic processes occurring within a glacier. However, such measurements are presently limited by a small number of relatively coarse-spatial-resolution borehole records, especially for ice sheets. Here, we advance our understanding of glacier thermodynamics with an exceptionally high-vertical-resolution (~0.65 m), distributed-fiber-optic temperature-sensing profile from a 1043-m borehole drilled to the base of Sermeq Kujalleq (Store Glacier), Greenland. We report substantial but isolated strain heating within interglacial-phase ice at 208 to 242 m depth together with strongly heterogeneous ice deformation in glacial-phase ice below 889 m. We also observe a high-strain interface between glacial- and interglacial-phase ice and a 73-m-thick temperate basal layer, interpreted as locally formed and important for the glacier's fast motion. These findings demonstrate notable spatial heterogeneity, both vertically and at the catchment scale, in the conditions facilitating the fast motion of marine-terminating glaciers in Greenland. Publisher PDF Peer reviewed

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