Potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets
We use the Shreve hydraulic potential equation as a simplified approach to investigate potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. We validate the method by demonstrating its ability to recall the locations of > 60\% of the k...
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Online Access: | https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/15104/ https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1721-2013 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/15104/1/Woodward_Greenland_icesheets.pdf |
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ftunivnorthumb:oai:nrl.northumbria.ac.uk:15104 2023-05-15T13:35:33+02:00 Potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets Livingstone, Stephen Clark, Chris Woodward, John Kingslake, J. 2013 application/pdf https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/15104/ https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1721-2013 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/15104/1/Woodward_Greenland_icesheets.pdf en eng Coperincus https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/15104/1/Woodward_Greenland_icesheets.pdf Livingstone, Stephen, Clark, Chris, Woodward, John and Kingslake, J. (2013) Potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. The Cryosphere, 7 (6). pp. 1721-1740. ISSN 1994-0424 cc_by CC-BY F600 Geology F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences Article PeerReviewed 2013 ftunivnorthumb https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1721-2013 2022-09-25T05:58:43Z We use the Shreve hydraulic potential equation as a simplified approach to investigate potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. We validate the method by demonstrating its ability to recall the locations of > 60\% of the known subglacial lakes beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. This is despite uncertainty in the ice-sheet bed elevation and our simplified modelling approach. However, we predict many more lakes than are observed. Hence we suggest that thousands of subglacial lakes remain to be found. Applying our technique to the Greenland Ice Sheet, where very few subglacial lakes have so far been observed, recalls 1607 potential lake locations, covering 1.2\% of the bed. Our results will therefore provide suitable targets for geophysical surveys aimed at identifying lakes beneath Greenland. We also apply the technique to modelled past ice-sheet configurations and find that during deglaciation both ice sheets likely had more subglacial lakes at their beds. These lakes, inherited from past ice-sheet configurations, would not form under current surface conditions, but are able to persist, suggesting a retreating ice-sheet will have many more subglacial lakes than advancing ones. We also investigate subglacial drainage pathways of the present-day and former Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Key sectors of the ice sheets, such as the Siple Coast (Antarctica) and NE Greenland Ice Stream system, are suggested to have been susceptible to subglacial drainage switching. We discuss how our results impact our understanding of meltwater drainage, basal lubrication and ice-stream formation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) Antarctic Greenland Siple ENVELOPE(-83.917,-83.917,-75.917,-75.917) Siple Coast ENVELOPE(-155.000,-155.000,-82.000,-82.000) The Antarctic The Cryosphere 7 6 1721 1740 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnorthumb |
language |
English |
topic |
F600 Geology F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
spellingShingle |
F600 Geology F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences Livingstone, Stephen Clark, Chris Woodward, John Kingslake, J. Potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets |
topic_facet |
F600 Geology F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
description |
We use the Shreve hydraulic potential equation as a simplified approach to investigate potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. We validate the method by demonstrating its ability to recall the locations of > 60\% of the known subglacial lakes beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. This is despite uncertainty in the ice-sheet bed elevation and our simplified modelling approach. However, we predict many more lakes than are observed. Hence we suggest that thousands of subglacial lakes remain to be found. Applying our technique to the Greenland Ice Sheet, where very few subglacial lakes have so far been observed, recalls 1607 potential lake locations, covering 1.2\% of the bed. Our results will therefore provide suitable targets for geophysical surveys aimed at identifying lakes beneath Greenland. We also apply the technique to modelled past ice-sheet configurations and find that during deglaciation both ice sheets likely had more subglacial lakes at their beds. These lakes, inherited from past ice-sheet configurations, would not form under current surface conditions, but are able to persist, suggesting a retreating ice-sheet will have many more subglacial lakes than advancing ones. We also investigate subglacial drainage pathways of the present-day and former Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. Key sectors of the ice sheets, such as the Siple Coast (Antarctica) and NE Greenland Ice Stream system, are suggested to have been susceptible to subglacial drainage switching. We discuss how our results impact our understanding of meltwater drainage, basal lubrication and ice-stream formation. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Livingstone, Stephen Clark, Chris Woodward, John Kingslake, J. |
author_facet |
Livingstone, Stephen Clark, Chris Woodward, John Kingslake, J. |
author_sort |
Livingstone, Stephen |
title |
Potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets |
title_short |
Potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets |
title_full |
Potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets |
title_fullStr |
Potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets |
title_full_unstemmed |
Potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets |
title_sort |
potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the antarctic and greenland ice sheets |
publisher |
Coperincus |
publishDate |
2013 |
url |
https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/15104/ https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1721-2013 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/15104/1/Woodward_Greenland_icesheets.pdf |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-83.917,-83.917,-75.917,-75.917) ENVELOPE(-155.000,-155.000,-82.000,-82.000) |
geographic |
Antarctic Greenland Siple Siple Coast The Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic Greenland Siple Siple Coast The Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic Antarctica Greenland Ice Sheet The Cryosphere |
op_relation |
https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/15104/1/Woodward_Greenland_icesheets.pdf Livingstone, Stephen, Clark, Chris, Woodward, John and Kingslake, J. (2013) Potential subglacial lake locations and meltwater drainage pathways beneath the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. The Cryosphere, 7 (6). pp. 1721-1740. ISSN 1994-0424 |
op_rights |
cc_by |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-7-1721-2013 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
6 |
container_start_page |
1721 |
op_container_end_page |
1740 |
_version_ |
1766067061404991488 |