Brief communication:Subglacial lake drainage beneath Isunguata Sermia, West Greenland: Geomorphic and ice dynamic effects

We report three active subglacial lakes within 2 km of the lateral margin of Isunguata Sermia, West Greenland, identified by differencing time-stamped ArcticDEM strips. Each lake underwent one drainage–refill event between 2009 and 2017, with two lakes draining in < 1 month in August 2014 and Aug...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Cryosphere
Main Authors: Livingstone, S.J., Sole, A.J., Storrar, R.D., Harrison, D., Ross, N., Bowling, J.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:unknown
Published: 2019
Subjects:
Greenland
glacier
Online Access:https://eprints.lancs.ac.uk/id/eprint/138952/
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2789-2019
Description
Summary:We report three active subglacial lakes within 2 km of the lateral margin of Isunguata Sermia, West Greenland, identified by differencing time-stamped ArcticDEM strips. Each lake underwent one drainage–refill event between 2009 and 2017, with two lakes draining in < 1 month in August 2014 and August 2015. The 2015 drainage caused a ∼ 1-month down-glacier slowdown in ice flow and flooded the foreland, aggrading the proglacial channel by 8 m. The proglacial flooding confirms the ice-surface elevation anomalies as subglacial water bodies and demonstrates how their drainage can significantly modify proglacial environments. These subglacial lakes offer accessible targets for geophysical investigations and exploration.

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