Brief Communication: Sudden drainage of a subglacial lake beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet

I. M. Howat; C. Porter; M. J. Noh; B. E. Smith; S. Jeong

doi:10.5194/tc-9-103-2015

The Cryosphere (Jan 2015)

Brief Communication: Sudden drainage of a subglacial lake beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet

I. M. Howat,
C. Porter,
M. J. Noh,
B. E. Smith,
S. Jeong

Affiliations

I. M. Howat: School of Earth Sciences and Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
C. Porter: Polar Geospatial Center, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA
M. J. Noh: School of Earth Sciences and Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA
B. E. Smith: Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA
S. Jeong: School of Earth Sciences and Byrd Polar Research Center, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-9-103-2015
Journal volume & issue: Vol. 9, no. 1
pp. 103 – 108

Abstract

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We report on the appearance of a 2 km wide, 70 m deep circular depression located 50 km inland of the southwestern margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet that provides the first direct evidence for concentrated, long-term storage, and sudden release, of meltwater at the bed. Drainage of the lake may have been triggered by the recent increase in meltwater runoff. The abundance of such lakes and their potential importance to the ice sheet's hydrologic system and flow regime remain unknown.

Published in The Cryosphere

ISSN: 1994-0416 (Print); 1994-0424 (Online)
Publisher: Copernicus Publications
Country of publisher: Germany
LCC subjects: Geography. Anthropology. Recreation: Environmental sciences; Science: Geology
Website: http://www.the-cryosphere.net/

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