Subglacial lakes and hydrology across the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands, West Antarctica

• Published in: The Cryosphere
• Main Authors: Napoleoni, Felipe, Jamieson, Stewart S. R., Ross, Neil, Bentley, Michael, Rojas Rivera, Andrés, Smith, Andrew, Siegert, Martin, Paxman, Guy J. G., Gacitua, Guisella, Uribe, José A., Zamora, Rodrigo, Brisbourne, Alex M., Vaughan, David G.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Gesellschaft MBH 2020
• Subjects: Beneath thwaites glacier; Ice stream C; Radar attenuation; Water-system; Siple dome; Sheet; Flow; Model; Bed; Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands; Pine Island Glacier; Rutford; Rutford Ice Stream; Siple; Siple Dome; Thwaites Glacier; West Antarctica; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Ice Stream C; Pine Island; The Cryosphere
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-4507-2020; https://repositorio.uchile.cl/handle/2250/180084

Subglacial water plays an important role in ice sheet dynamics and stability. Subglacial lakes are often located at the onset of ice streams and have been hypothesised to enhance ice flow downstream by lubricating the ice- bed interface. The most recent subglacial-lake inventory of Antarctica mapped nearly 400 lakes, of which similar to 14 % are found in West Antarctica. Despite the potential importance of subglacial water for ice dynamics, there is a lack of detailed subglacial-water characterisation in West Antarctica. Using radio-echo sounding data, we analyse the ice-bed interface to detect subglacial lakes. We report 33 previously uncharted subglacial lakes and present a systematic analysis of their physical properties. This represents a similar to 40 % increase in subglacial lakes in West Antarctica. Additionally, a new digital elevation model of basal topography of the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands was built and used to create a hydropotential model to simulate the subglacial hydrological network. This allows us to characterise basal hydrology, determine subglacial water catchments and assess their connectivity. We show that the simulated subglacial hydrological catchments of the Rutford Ice Stream, Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier do not correspond to their ice surface catchments. UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) NE/J008176/1 Agencia Nacional de Investigacion y Desarrollo (ANID) Programa Becas de Doctorado en el Extranjero, Beca Chile 72180535