Brief Communication: Sudden drainage of a subglacial lake beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: I. M. Howat, C. Porter, M. J. Noh, B. E. Smith, S. Jeong
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2015
• Subjects: geo; envir; Greenland; Lake May; Ice Sheet; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-103-2015; http://www.the-cryosphere.net/9/103/2015/tc-9-103-2015.pdf; https://doaj.org/article/4a59b79e1711402ba84881969b4cf521

We report on the appearance of a 2 km wide, 70 m deep circular depression located 50 km inland of the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet that provides the first direct evidence for concentrated, long-term storage, and sudden release, of meltwater at the bed. Drainage of the lake may have been triggered by the recent increase in meltwater runoff. The abundance of such lakes and their potential importance to the ice sheet's hydrologic system and flow regime remain unknown.