Lake Ellsworth

• Main Authors: Woodward, John, Siegert, Martin, Smith, Andrew, Ross, Neil
• Other Authors: Singh, V. P., Haritashya, U. K., Singh, P.
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Springer 2011
• Subjects: F800 Physical and Terrestrial Geographical and Environmental Sciences; Antarctic; West Antarctica; West Antarctic Ice Sheet; Pine Island Glacier; Ellsworth Mountains; Institute Ice Stream; Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands; Antarc*; Antarctica; Ice Sheet; Pine Island
• Online Access: https://nrl.northumbria.ac.uk/id/eprint/7075/; https://doi.org/10.1007/978-90-481-2642-2_317

Subglacial Lake Ellsworth is located near the Ellsworth Mountains in West Antarctica at 78.9°S 90.6°W. The lake basin is in the center of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) in the Pine Island Glacier drainage basin, 20 km from the ice divide with the Institute Ice Stream. The lake is approximately 15 km long and over 3 km across at its widest point. Seismic surveys have revealed that the lake is over 100 m deep in places. The ice sheet above the lake is between 2.9 and 3.3 km thick, with the lake surface over 1 km beneath present sea level within a distinct topographic hollow, ∼1.5 km deeper than the surrounding subglacial bed. The basin is fjord-like in its topographic setting, and is one of a series of fjord-like over-deepenings on the western flank of the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands. This summary of our current knowledge will document the series of radio-echo sounding (RES) transects and field campaigns from which the lake has been identified. Basal thermal regime.