Challenges in predicting Greenland supraglacial lake drainages at the regional scale

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: K. Poinar, L. C. Andrews
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2021
• Subjects: geo; envir; Fast Lake; Greenland; Ice Sheet; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1455-2021; https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/1455/2021/tc-15-1455-2021.pdf; https://doaj.org/article/0d8d082c4ad24e489bca9c692c9440b7

A leading hypothesis for the mechanism of fast supraglacial lake drainages is that transient extensional stresses briefly allow crevassing in otherwise compressional ice flow regimes. Lake water can then hydrofracture a crevasse to the base of the ice sheet, and river inputs can maintain this connec...