Fluid resonance in elastic-walled englacial transport networks

Abstract

Englacial water transport is an integral part of the glacial hydrologic system, yet the geometry of englacial structures remains largely unknown. In this study, we explore the excitation of fluid resonance by small amplitude waves as a probe of englacial geometry. We model a hydraulic network consisting of one or more tabular cracks that intersect a cylindrical conduit, subject to oscillatory wave motion initiated at the water surface. Resulting resonant frequencies and quality factors are diagnostic of fluid properties and geometry of the englacial system. For a single crack–conduit system, the fundamental mode involves gravity-driven fluid sloshing between the conduit and the crack, at frequencies between 0.02 and 10 Hz for typical glacial parameters. Higher frequency modes include dispersive Krauklis waves generated within the crack and tube waves in the conduit. But we find that crack lengths are often well constrained by fundamental mode frequency and damping rate alone for settings that include alpine glaciers and ice sheets. Branching crack geometry and dip, ice thickness and source excitation function help define limits of crack detectability for this mode. In general, we suggest that identification of eigenmodes associated with wave motion in time series data may provide a pathway toward inferring englacial hydrologic structures.

Keywords

• Glacier geophysics
• glacier hydrology
• glaciological model experiments