Rapid development and persistence of efficient subglacial drainage under 900 m-thick ice in Greenland
Intensive study of the Greenland Ice Sheet's (GrIS) subglacial drainage has been motivated by its importance for ice dynamics and for nutrient/sediment export to coastal ecosystems. This has revealed consistent seasonal development of efficient subglacial drainage in the lower ablation area. Wh...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21519 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116982 |
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/21519 2023-05-15T14:26:59+02:00 Rapid development and persistence of efficient subglacial drainage under 900 m-thick ice in Greenland Chandler, David Matthew Wadham, Jemma Louise Nienow, Peter W. Doyle, Samuel H. Tedstone, Andrew J. Telling, Jon Hawkings, Jonathan R. Alcock, Jonathan Linhoff, Benjamin Hubbard, Alun Lloyd 2021-05-11 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21519 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116982 eng eng Elsevier Earth and Planetary Science Letters info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/SFF/223259/Norway/Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate/CAGE/ Chandler, Wadham, Nienow, Doyle, Tedstone, Telling, Hawkings, Alcock, Linhoff, Hubbard. Rapid development and persistence of efficient subglacial drainage under 900 m-thick ice in Greenland. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 2021 FRIDAID 1909769 doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116982 0012-821X 1385-013X https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21519 openAccess Copyright 2021 The Author(s) VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450::Quaternary geology glaciology: 465 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450::Kvartærgeologi glasiologi: 465 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed publishedVersion 2021 ftunivtroemsoe https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116982 2021-06-25T17:58:12Z Intensive study of the Greenland Ice Sheet's (GrIS) subglacial drainage has been motivated by its importance for ice dynamics and for nutrient/sediment export to coastal ecosystems. This has revealed consistent seasonal development of efficient subglacial drainage in the lower ablation area. While some hydrological models show qualitative agreement with field data, conflicting evidence (both field- and model-based) maintains uncertainty in the extent and rate of efficient drainage development under thick (∼1 km) ice. Here, we present the first simultaneous time series of directly-observed subglacial drainage evolution, supraglacial hydrology and ice dynamics over 11 weeks in a large GrIS catchment. We demonstrate development of a fast/efficient subglacial drainage system extending from the margin to beneath ice >900 m thick, which then persisted with little response to highly variable moulin inputs including extreme melt events and extended periods (2 weeks) of low melt input. This efficient system evolved within ∼3 weeks at a moulin initiated when a fracture intersected a supraglacial river (rather than hydrofracture and lake drainage). Ice flow response to surface melt inputs at this site follows a pattern commonly observed in the lower GrIS ablation area, and by assuming a strong relationship between ice dynamics and subglacial hydrology, we infer that efficient subglacial drainage evolution is widespread under 900 m-thick ice in west Greenland. This time series of tracer transit characteristics through a developing and then persistent efficient drainage system provides a unique data set with which to validate and constrain existing numerical drainage system models, extending their capability for simulating drainage system evolution under current and future conditions Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Greenland University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Greenland Earth and Planetary Science Letters 566 116982 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450::Quaternary geology glaciology: 465 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450::Kvartærgeologi glasiologi: 465 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450::Quaternary geology glaciology: 465 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450::Kvartærgeologi glasiologi: 465 Chandler, David Matthew Wadham, Jemma Louise Nienow, Peter W. Doyle, Samuel H. Tedstone, Andrew J. Telling, Jon Hawkings, Jonathan R. Alcock, Jonathan Linhoff, Benjamin Hubbard, Alun Lloyd Rapid development and persistence of efficient subglacial drainage under 900 m-thick ice in Greenland |
topic_facet |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450::Quaternary geology glaciology: 465 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450::Kvartærgeologi glasiologi: 465 |
description |
Intensive study of the Greenland Ice Sheet's (GrIS) subglacial drainage has been motivated by its importance for ice dynamics and for nutrient/sediment export to coastal ecosystems. This has revealed consistent seasonal development of efficient subglacial drainage in the lower ablation area. While some hydrological models show qualitative agreement with field data, conflicting evidence (both field- and model-based) maintains uncertainty in the extent and rate of efficient drainage development under thick (∼1 km) ice. Here, we present the first simultaneous time series of directly-observed subglacial drainage evolution, supraglacial hydrology and ice dynamics over 11 weeks in a large GrIS catchment. We demonstrate development of a fast/efficient subglacial drainage system extending from the margin to beneath ice >900 m thick, which then persisted with little response to highly variable moulin inputs including extreme melt events and extended periods (2 weeks) of low melt input. This efficient system evolved within ∼3 weeks at a moulin initiated when a fracture intersected a supraglacial river (rather than hydrofracture and lake drainage). Ice flow response to surface melt inputs at this site follows a pattern commonly observed in the lower GrIS ablation area, and by assuming a strong relationship between ice dynamics and subglacial hydrology, we infer that efficient subglacial drainage evolution is widespread under 900 m-thick ice in west Greenland. This time series of tracer transit characteristics through a developing and then persistent efficient drainage system provides a unique data set with which to validate and constrain existing numerical drainage system models, extending their capability for simulating drainage system evolution under current and future conditions |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Chandler, David Matthew Wadham, Jemma Louise Nienow, Peter W. Doyle, Samuel H. Tedstone, Andrew J. Telling, Jon Hawkings, Jonathan R. Alcock, Jonathan Linhoff, Benjamin Hubbard, Alun Lloyd |
author_facet |
Chandler, David Matthew Wadham, Jemma Louise Nienow, Peter W. Doyle, Samuel H. Tedstone, Andrew J. Telling, Jon Hawkings, Jonathan R. Alcock, Jonathan Linhoff, Benjamin Hubbard, Alun Lloyd |
author_sort |
Chandler, David Matthew |
title |
Rapid development and persistence of efficient subglacial drainage under 900 m-thick ice in Greenland |
title_short |
Rapid development and persistence of efficient subglacial drainage under 900 m-thick ice in Greenland |
title_full |
Rapid development and persistence of efficient subglacial drainage under 900 m-thick ice in Greenland |
title_fullStr |
Rapid development and persistence of efficient subglacial drainage under 900 m-thick ice in Greenland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rapid development and persistence of efficient subglacial drainage under 900 m-thick ice in Greenland |
title_sort |
rapid development and persistence of efficient subglacial drainage under 900 m-thick ice in greenland |
publisher |
Elsevier |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21519 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116982 |
geographic |
Greenland |
geographic_facet |
Greenland |
genre |
Arctic Greenland |
genre_facet |
Arctic Greenland |
op_relation |
Earth and Planetary Science Letters info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/RCN/SFF/223259/Norway/Centre for Arctic Gas Hydrate, Environment and Climate/CAGE/ Chandler, Wadham, Nienow, Doyle, Tedstone, Telling, Hawkings, Alcock, Linhoff, Hubbard. Rapid development and persistence of efficient subglacial drainage under 900 m-thick ice in Greenland. Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 2021 FRIDAID 1909769 doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116982 0012-821X 1385-013X https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21519 |
op_rights |
openAccess Copyright 2021 The Author(s) |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2021.116982 |
container_title |
Earth and Planetary Science Letters |
container_volume |
566 |
container_start_page |
116982 |
_version_ |
1766300522215636992 |