Indication of high basal melting at the EastGRIP drill site on the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream
The accelerated ice flow of ice streams that reach far into the interior of the ice sheets is associated with lubrication of the ice sheet base by basal meltwater. However, the amount of basal melting under the large ice streams – such as the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) – is largely unkno...
Published in: | The Cryosphere |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2021
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3119-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3119/2021/tc-15-3119-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/f041d7220bf64556a6f7de453a19c5ce |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:f041d7220bf64556a6f7de453a19c5ce 2023-05-15T16:21:26+02:00 Indication of high basal melting at the EastGRIP drill site on the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream O. Zeising A. Humbert 2021-07-01 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3119-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3119/2021/tc-15-3119-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/f041d7220bf64556a6f7de453a19c5ce en eng Copernicus Publications doi:10.5194/tc-15-3119-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3119/2021/tc-15-3119-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/f041d7220bf64556a6f7de453a19c5ce undefined The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 3119-3128 (2021) geo envir Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2021 fttriple https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3119-2021 2023-01-22T18:19:31Z The accelerated ice flow of ice streams that reach far into the interior of the ice sheets is associated with lubrication of the ice sheet base by basal meltwater. However, the amount of basal melting under the large ice streams – such as the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) – is largely unknown. In situ measurements of basal melt rates are important from various perspectives as they indicate the heat budget, the hydrological regime and the relative importance of sliding in glacier motion. The few previous estimates of basal melt rates in the NEGIS region were 0.1 m a−1 and more, based on radiostratigraphy methods. These findings raised the question of the heat source, since even an increased geothermal heat flux could not deliver the necessary amount of heat. Here, we present basal melt rates at the recent deep drill site EastGRIP, located in the centre of NEGIS. Within 2 subsequent years, we found basal melt rates of 0.19±0.04 m a−1 that are based on analysis of repeated phase-sensitive radar measurements. In order to quantify the contribution of processes that contribute to melting, we carried out an assessment of the energy balance at the interface and found the subglacial water system to play a key role in facilitating such high melt rates. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Unknown Greenland The Cryosphere 15 7 3119 3128 |
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English |
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geo envir |
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geo envir O. Zeising A. Humbert Indication of high basal melting at the EastGRIP drill site on the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream |
topic_facet |
geo envir |
description |
The accelerated ice flow of ice streams that reach far into the interior of the ice sheets is associated with lubrication of the ice sheet base by basal meltwater. However, the amount of basal melting under the large ice streams – such as the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream (NEGIS) – is largely unknown. In situ measurements of basal melt rates are important from various perspectives as they indicate the heat budget, the hydrological regime and the relative importance of sliding in glacier motion. The few previous estimates of basal melt rates in the NEGIS region were 0.1 m a−1 and more, based on radiostratigraphy methods. These findings raised the question of the heat source, since even an increased geothermal heat flux could not deliver the necessary amount of heat. Here, we present basal melt rates at the recent deep drill site EastGRIP, located in the centre of NEGIS. Within 2 subsequent years, we found basal melt rates of 0.19±0.04 m a−1 that are based on analysis of repeated phase-sensitive radar measurements. In order to quantify the contribution of processes that contribute to melting, we carried out an assessment of the energy balance at the interface and found the subglacial water system to play a key role in facilitating such high melt rates. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
O. Zeising A. Humbert |
author_facet |
O. Zeising A. Humbert |
author_sort |
O. Zeising |
title |
Indication of high basal melting at the EastGRIP drill site on the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream |
title_short |
Indication of high basal melting at the EastGRIP drill site on the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream |
title_full |
Indication of high basal melting at the EastGRIP drill site on the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream |
title_fullStr |
Indication of high basal melting at the EastGRIP drill site on the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream |
title_full_unstemmed |
Indication of high basal melting at the EastGRIP drill site on the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream |
title_sort |
indication of high basal melting at the eastgrip drill site on the northeast greenland ice stream |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3119-2021 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3119/2021/tc-15-3119-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/f041d7220bf64556a6f7de453a19c5ce |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 15, Pp 3119-3128 (2021) |
op_relation |
doi:10.5194/tc-15-3119-2021 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/15/3119/2021/tc-15-3119-2021.pdf https://doaj.org/article/f041d7220bf64556a6f7de453a19c5ce |
op_rights |
undefined |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3119-2021 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
15 |
container_issue |
7 |
container_start_page |
3119 |
op_container_end_page |
3128 |
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1766009444229971968 |