Tidewater-glacier response to supraglacial lake drainage
The flow speed of the Greenland Ice Sheet changes dramatically in inland regions when surface meltwater drains to the bed. But ice-sheet discharge to the ocean is dominated by fast-flowing outlet glaciers, where the effect of increasing surface melt on annual discharge is unknown. Observations of a...
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2022
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33763-2 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a94e5b53-342c-4c6a-b090-87902ac22224 |
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ftuloxford:oai:ora.ox.ac.uk:uuid:a94e5b53-342c-4c6a-b090-87902ac22224 2023-05-15T16:21:08+02:00 Tidewater-glacier response to supraglacial lake drainage Stevens, L Nettles, M Davis, JL Creyts, TT Kingslake, J Hewitt, I Stubblefield, A 2022-10-14 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33763-2 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a94e5b53-342c-4c6a-b090-87902ac22224 eng eng Springer Nature doi:10.1038/s41467-022-33763-2 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a94e5b53-342c-4c6a-b090-87902ac22224 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33763-2 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC Attribution (CC BY) CC-BY Journal article 2022 ftuloxford https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33763-2 2022-10-20T22:06:06Z The flow speed of the Greenland Ice Sheet changes dramatically in inland regions when surface meltwater drains to the bed. But ice-sheet discharge to the ocean is dominated by fast-flowing outlet glaciers, where the effect of increasing surface melt on annual discharge is unknown. Observations of a supraglacial lake drainage at Helheim Glacier, and a consequent velocity pulse propagating down-glacier, provide a natural experiment for assessing the impact of changes in injected meltwater, and allow us to interrogate the subglacial hydrological system. We find a highly efficient subglacial drainage system, such that summertime lake drainage has little net effect on ice discharge. Our results question the validity of common remote-sensing approaches for inferring subglacial conditions, knowledge of which is needed for improved projections of sea-level rise. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Tidewater ORA - Oxford University Research Archive Greenland Nature Communications 13 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
ORA - Oxford University Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftuloxford |
language |
English |
description |
The flow speed of the Greenland Ice Sheet changes dramatically in inland regions when surface meltwater drains to the bed. But ice-sheet discharge to the ocean is dominated by fast-flowing outlet glaciers, where the effect of increasing surface melt on annual discharge is unknown. Observations of a supraglacial lake drainage at Helheim Glacier, and a consequent velocity pulse propagating down-glacier, provide a natural experiment for assessing the impact of changes in injected meltwater, and allow us to interrogate the subglacial hydrological system. We find a highly efficient subglacial drainage system, such that summertime lake drainage has little net effect on ice discharge. Our results question the validity of common remote-sensing approaches for inferring subglacial conditions, knowledge of which is needed for improved projections of sea-level rise. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Stevens, L Nettles, M Davis, JL Creyts, TT Kingslake, J Hewitt, I Stubblefield, A |
spellingShingle |
Stevens, L Nettles, M Davis, JL Creyts, TT Kingslake, J Hewitt, I Stubblefield, A Tidewater-glacier response to supraglacial lake drainage |
author_facet |
Stevens, L Nettles, M Davis, JL Creyts, TT Kingslake, J Hewitt, I Stubblefield, A |
author_sort |
Stevens, L |
title |
Tidewater-glacier response to supraglacial lake drainage |
title_short |
Tidewater-glacier response to supraglacial lake drainage |
title_full |
Tidewater-glacier response to supraglacial lake drainage |
title_fullStr |
Tidewater-glacier response to supraglacial lake drainage |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tidewater-glacier response to supraglacial lake drainage |
title_sort |
tidewater-glacier response to supraglacial lake drainage |
publisher |
Springer Nature |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33763-2 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a94e5b53-342c-4c6a-b090-87902ac22224 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Tidewater |
genre_facet |
glacier Greenland Ice Sheet Tidewater |
op_relation |
doi:10.1038/s41467-022-33763-2 https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:a94e5b53-342c-4c6a-b090-87902ac22224 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33763-2 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess CC Attribution (CC BY) |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33763-2 |
container_title |
Nature Communications |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766009143992254464 |