Variability in ice motion at a land-terminating Greenlandic outlet glacier: the role of channelized and distributed drainage systems

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Cowton, Tom, Nienow, Peter, Sole, Andrew, Bartholomew, Ian, Mair, Douglas
• Other Authors: University of St Andrews.Geography & Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews.Bell-Edwards Geographic Data Institute
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2016
• Subjects: Glacier hydrology; Ice dynamics; Subglacial processes; G Geography (General); GB Physical geography; T-NDAS; G1; GB; greenlandic; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10023/9484; https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.36

This work was funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (through grants to Nienow (NE/F021399/1) and Mair (NE/H024964/1)), the Edinburgh University Moss Centenary Scholarship (Cowton and Bartholomew) and a Carnegie Research Grant (Nienow). GPS equipment and training were provided by the NERC Geophysical Equipment Facility (loan 868). We use a combination of field observations and hydrological modelling to examine the mechanisms through which variability in melt water input affects ice motion at a land terminating Greenlandic outlet glacier. We find a close agreement between horizontal ice velocity, vertical ice velocity and modelled subglacial water pressure over the course of a melt season. On this basis, we argue that variation in horizontal and vertical ice velocity primarily reflects the displacement of basal ice during periods of cavity expansion and contraction, a process itself driven by fluctuations in basal water pressure originating in subglacial channels. This process is not captured by traditional sliding laws linking water pressure and basal velocity, which may hinder the simulation of realistic diurnal to seasonal variability in ice velocity in coupled models of glacial hydrology and dynamics. Peer reviewed