The "tipping" temperature within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica and its implications for lake access
We present results from new geophysical data allowing modelling of the water flow within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth (SLE), West Antarctica. Our simulations indicate that this lake has a novel temperature distribution due to significantly thinner ice than other surveyed subglacial lakes. The critical...
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2011
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Online Access: | https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7072/ https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-561-2011 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7072/1/tc-5-561-2011.pdf https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7072/2/tc-5-561-2011-supplement.pdf |
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ftunivnorthumb:oai:nrl.northumbria.ac.uk:7072 2023-05-15T13:34:15+02:00 The "tipping" temperature within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica and its implications for lake access Thoma, Malte Grosfeld, Klaus Mayer, Christoph Smith, Andrew Woodward, John Ross, Neil 2011 application/pdf https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7072/ https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-561-2011 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7072/1/tc-5-561-2011.pdf https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7072/2/tc-5-561-2011-supplement.pdf en eng Copernicus Publications https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7072/1/tc-5-561-2011.pdf https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7072/2/tc-5-561-2011-supplement.pdf Thoma, Malte, Grosfeld, Klaus, Mayer, Christoph, Smith, Andrew, Woodward, John and Ross, Neil (2011) The "tipping" temperature within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica and its implications for lake access. The Cryosphere, 5. pp. 561-567. ISSN 1994-0416 cc_by CC-BY F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences Article PeerReviewed 2011 ftunivnorthumb https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-561-2011 2022-09-25T05:53:43Z We present results from new geophysical data allowing modelling of the water flow within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth (SLE), West Antarctica. Our simulations indicate that this lake has a novel temperature distribution due to significantly thinner ice than other surveyed subglacial lakes. The critical pressure boundary (tipping depth), established from the semi-empirical Equation of State, defines whether the lake's flow regime is convective or stratified. It passes through SLE and separates different temperature (and flow) regimes on either side of the lake. Our results have implications for the location of proposed access holes into SLE, the choice of which will depend on scientific or operational priorities. If an understanding of subglacial lake water properties and dynamics is the priority, holes are required in a basal freezing area at the North end of the lake. This would be the preferred priority suggested by this paper, requiring temperature and salinity profiles in the water column. A location near the Southern end, where bottom currents are lowest, is optimum for detecting the record of life in the bed sediments; to minimise operational risk and maximise the time span of a bed sediment core, a location close to the middle of the lake, where the basal interface is melting and the lake bed is at its deepest, remains the best choice. Considering potential lake-water salinity and ice-density variations, we estimate the critical tipping depth, separating different temperature regimes within subglacial lakes, to be in about 2900 to 3045 m depth. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctica The Cryosphere West Antarctica Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) West Antarctica The Cryosphere 5 3 561 567 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Northumbria University, Newcastle: Northumbria Research Link (NRL) |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnorthumb |
language |
English |
topic |
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
spellingShingle |
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences Thoma, Malte Grosfeld, Klaus Mayer, Christoph Smith, Andrew Woodward, John Ross, Neil The "tipping" temperature within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica and its implications for lake access |
topic_facet |
F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences |
description |
We present results from new geophysical data allowing modelling of the water flow within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth (SLE), West Antarctica. Our simulations indicate that this lake has a novel temperature distribution due to significantly thinner ice than other surveyed subglacial lakes. The critical pressure boundary (tipping depth), established from the semi-empirical Equation of State, defines whether the lake's flow regime is convective or stratified. It passes through SLE and separates different temperature (and flow) regimes on either side of the lake. Our results have implications for the location of proposed access holes into SLE, the choice of which will depend on scientific or operational priorities. If an understanding of subglacial lake water properties and dynamics is the priority, holes are required in a basal freezing area at the North end of the lake. This would be the preferred priority suggested by this paper, requiring temperature and salinity profiles in the water column. A location near the Southern end, where bottom currents are lowest, is optimum for detecting the record of life in the bed sediments; to minimise operational risk and maximise the time span of a bed sediment core, a location close to the middle of the lake, where the basal interface is melting and the lake bed is at its deepest, remains the best choice. Considering potential lake-water salinity and ice-density variations, we estimate the critical tipping depth, separating different temperature regimes within subglacial lakes, to be in about 2900 to 3045 m depth. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Thoma, Malte Grosfeld, Klaus Mayer, Christoph Smith, Andrew Woodward, John Ross, Neil |
author_facet |
Thoma, Malte Grosfeld, Klaus Mayer, Christoph Smith, Andrew Woodward, John Ross, Neil |
author_sort |
Thoma, Malte |
title |
The "tipping" temperature within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica and its implications for lake access |
title_short |
The "tipping" temperature within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica and its implications for lake access |
title_full |
The "tipping" temperature within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica and its implications for lake access |
title_fullStr |
The "tipping" temperature within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica and its implications for lake access |
title_full_unstemmed |
The "tipping" temperature within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica and its implications for lake access |
title_sort |
"tipping" temperature within subglacial lake ellsworth, west antarctica and its implications for lake access |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2011 |
url |
https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7072/ https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-561-2011 https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7072/1/tc-5-561-2011.pdf https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7072/2/tc-5-561-2011-supplement.pdf |
geographic |
West Antarctica |
geographic_facet |
West Antarctica |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctica The Cryosphere West Antarctica |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctica The Cryosphere West Antarctica |
op_relation |
https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7072/1/tc-5-561-2011.pdf https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7072/2/tc-5-561-2011-supplement.pdf Thoma, Malte, Grosfeld, Klaus, Mayer, Christoph, Smith, Andrew, Woodward, John and Ross, Neil (2011) The "tipping" temperature within Subglacial Lake Ellsworth, West Antarctica and its implications for lake access. The Cryosphere, 5. pp. 561-567. ISSN 1994-0416 |
op_rights |
cc_by |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-5-561-2011 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
5 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
561 |
op_container_end_page |
567 |
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1766050779757543424 |