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Dendritic Subglacial Drainage Systems in Cold Glaciers Formed by Cut-and-Closure Processes
Abstract
The routing and storage of meltwater and the configuration of drainage systems in glaciers exert a profound influence on glacier behaviour. However, little is known about the hydrological systems of cold glaciers, which form a significant proportion of the total glacier population in the climate sensitive region of the High Arctic. Using glacio-speleological techniques, we obtained direct access to explore and survey three conduit systems and one moulin within the tongue area of Tellbreen, a small cold-based valley glacier in central Spitsbergen. More than 600 m of conduits were surveyed and mapped in plan, profile and cross-section view to analyse the configuration of the drainage system. The investigations revealed that cold-based glaciers can exhibit a dendritic drainage network with supra-, en- and subglacial components formed most likely by cut-and-closure processes as well as surface-to-bed drainage via moulins. Furthermore, we observed that water is stored within the glacier and released gradually via subglacial conduits during the winter months, forming a large and active icing in the proglacial area. The presence of supra-, en- and subglacial components, the surface-to-bed moulin and the dendritic subglacial drainage network suggest that existing models and understanding of the hydrology of cold glaciers needs to be re-evaluated, mostly concerning the different possible pathways and processes that form the hydrological system.
... Due to a lack of basal meltwater (e.g., Atkins, 2013;Cuffey et al., 2000;Fitzsimons et al., 2001;Hambrey and Fitzsimons, 2010) the presence of lateral meltwater channels is typically the main indicator of cold-based glaciation; these channels form as supraglacial meltwater flows to the glacier margins and incises into the bedrock adjacent to the glacier, forming a series of short, parallel channels (Atkins and Dickinson, 2007;Kleman and Borgström, 1996;Ó Cofaigh et al., 1999). However, subglacial meltwater channels have been documented under cold-based glaciers (e.g., Naegeli et al., 2014;Temminghoff et al., 2019) as a result of a cut-and-closure process where erosion of a supraglacial stream is followed by roof closure and eventual incision through the ice and into the bed (Gulley et al., 2009). Polythermal-based glaciation can record a variety of glacial landforms indicative of both warm-and coldbased regimes. ...
... Many studies of cold-based ice sheets attribute the formation of channelized drainage systems with similar morphologies to SG1 and SG2 to the episodic drainage of subglacial lakes (e.g., Hogan et al., 2022;Kirkham et al., 2019;Larter et al., 2019;Lewis et al., 2006;Sugden et al., 1991); however, while we cannot rule out the presence of a major subglacial lake, modern lakes on Devon island are relatively small and concentrated along the coast, and there is no topographical evidence of a past major inland basin on Devon Island that could have fed the subglacial channel networks (Fig. 1A-B). Instead, dendritic subglacial drainage networks have been observed under small cold-based glaciers in Svalbard (e.g., Gulley et al., 2009;Naegeli et al., 2014;Temminghoff et al., 2019), associated with supraglacial streams that eventually reach the bed and incise R-and N-channels or directly reaches the bed via moulins (Gulley et al., 2009). This type of channel formation is a dominant process on uncrevassed and thin ice masses in cold environments (Naegeli et al., 2014). ...
... Instead, dendritic subglacial drainage networks have been observed under small cold-based glaciers in Svalbard (e.g., Gulley et al., 2009;Naegeli et al., 2014;Temminghoff et al., 2019), associated with supraglacial streams that eventually reach the bed and incise R-and N-channels or directly reaches the bed via moulins (Gulley et al., 2009). This type of channel formation is a dominant process on uncrevassed and thin ice masses in cold environments (Naegeli et al., 2014). For SG1 and SG2, we suggest that the meltwater is supraglacial in origin and routed through a point or line source, such as a moulin or crevasse (Fig. 7). ...
... Due to a lack of basal meltwater (e.g., Atkins, 2013;Cuffey et al., 2000;Fitzsimons et al., 2001;Hambrey and Fitzsimons, 2010) the presence of lateral meltwater channels is typically the main indicator of cold-based glaciation; these channels form as supraglacial meltwater flows to the glacier margins and incises into the bedrock adjacent to the glacier, forming a series of short, parallel channels (Atkins and Dickinson, 2007;Kleman and Borgström, 1996;Ó Cofaigh et al., 1999). However, subglacial meltwater channels have been documented under cold-based glaciers (e.g., Naegeli et al., 2014;Temminghoff et al., 2019) as a result of a cut-and-closure process where erosion of a supraglacial stream is followed by roof closure and eventual incision through the ice and into the bed (Gulley et al., 2009). Polythermal-based glaciation can record a variety of glacial landforms indicative of both warm-and coldbased regimes. ...
... Many studies of cold-based ice sheets attribute the formation of channelized drainage systems with similar morphologies to SG1 and SG2 to the episodic drainage of subglacial lakes (e.g., Hogan et al., 2022;Kirkham et al., 2019;Larter et al., 2019;Lewis et al., 2006;Sugden et al., 1991); however, while we cannot rule out the presence of a major subglacial lake, modern lakes on Devon island are relatively small and concentrated along the coast, and there is no topographical evidence of a past major inland basin on Devon Island that could have fed the subglacial channel networks (Fig. 1A-B). Instead, dendritic subglacial drainage networks have been observed under small cold-based glaciers in Svalbard (e.g., Gulley et al., 2009;Naegeli et al., 2014;Temminghoff et al., 2019), associated with supraglacial streams that eventually reach the bed and incise R-and N-channels or directly reaches the bed via moulins (Gulley et al., 2009). This type of channel formation is a dominant process on uncrevassed and thin ice masses in cold environments (Naegeli et al., 2014). ...
... Instead, dendritic subglacial drainage networks have been observed under small cold-based glaciers in Svalbard (e.g., Gulley et al., 2009;Naegeli et al., 2014;Temminghoff et al., 2019), associated with supraglacial streams that eventually reach the bed and incise R-and N-channels or directly reaches the bed via moulins (Gulley et al., 2009). This type of channel formation is a dominant process on uncrevassed and thin ice masses in cold environments (Naegeli et al., 2014). For SG1 and SG2, we suggest that the meltwater is supraglacial in origin and routed through a point or line source, such as a moulin or crevasse (Fig. 7). ...
... Recent studies have demonstrated that meltwater can drain efficiently through cold glaciers and their ice margins (e.g. Gulley, Benn, Müller, & Luckman, 2009a;Gulley, Benn, Screaton, & Martin, 2009b;Gulley et al., 2014;Naegeli et al., 2014;Vatne & Irvine-Fynn, 2016). Indeed, in a changing Arctic, the reduced permeability and flow of cold ice may favour an increasing prevalence of drainage dominated by supraglacial and englacial flowpaths. ...
... Indeed, in a changing Arctic, the reduced permeability and flow of cold ice may favour an increasing prevalence of drainage dominated by supraglacial and englacial flowpaths. However, the morphology and evolution of these cold-ice drainage systems remain poorly characterized (Naegeli et al., 2014). ...
... Speleological mapping has been less common, but has reported reach-scale englacial channel morphologies and been used to infer drainage path genesis and evolution in Arctic glaciers (e.g. Benn, Kristensen, et al., 2009;Gulley, Benn, Müller, & Luckman, 2009a;Gulley, Benn, Screaton, & Martin, 2009b;Holmlund, 1988;Müller, 2007;Myreng, 2015;Naegeli et al., 2014;Pulina & Rehak, 1991;Temminghoff et al., 2019;Vatne, 2001;Vatne & Irvine-Fynn, 2016). Moreover, across a range of thermal regimes, characteristic englacial drainage system entrance and exit crosssectional geometries and planform sinuosities have been described (e.g. ...
Meltwater routing through ice masses exerts a fundamental control over glacier dynamics and mass balance, and proglacial hydrology. However, despite recent advances in mapping drainage systems in cold, Arctic glaciers, direct observations of englacial channels and their flow conditions remain sparse. Here, using Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) surveys of the main englacial channel of cold‐based Austre Brøggerbreen (Svalbard), we map and compare an entrance moulin reach (122 m long) and exit portal reach (273 m long). Analysis of channel planforms, longitudinal profiles, cross‐sections and morphological features reveals evidence of spatial variations in water flow conditions and channel incision mechanisms, and the presence of vadose, epiphreatic and phreatic conditions. The entrance reach, located at the base of a perennial moulin, was characterised by vadose, uniform, channel lowering at annual timescales, evidenced by longitudinal grooves, whereas the exit portal reach showed both epiphreatic and vadose conditions, along with upstream knickpoint migration at intra‐annual timescales. Fine‐scale features, including grooves and scallops, were readily quantified from the TLS point cloud, highlighting the capacity of the technique to inform palaeoflow conditions, and reveal how pulses of meltwater from rainfall events may adjust englacial conduit behaviour. With forecasts of increasing Arctic precipitation in the coming decades, and a progressively greater proportion of glaciers comprising cold ice, augmenting the current knowledge of englacial channel morphology is essential to constrain future glacier hydrological system change.
... The continued interest in the hydraulics of ice-bounded streams arises because the long-standing assumption that englacial drainage is conditioned by hydraulic potential (Shreve, 1972) has given way to the realisation that ice structure, in the form of crevasses, fractures, debris intrusions and variations in hydraulic permittivity (Gulley, 2009;Gulley and Benn, 2007;Mavlyudov, 2005;Stenborg, 1968) may be hydrologically significant. This insight is coupled with the recognition that hydrologically assisted fracture propagation (Benn et al., 2009;Boon and Sharp, 2003;Hambrey, 1984) and the progressive incision of so-called cut-and-closure supraglacial streams (Gulley et al., 2009a;Vatne, 2001) also represent important mechanisms by which meltwater can be transferred from the supraglacial environment to a glacier's interior (Baelum and Benn, 2011;Naegeli et al., 2014). With suggestions that englacial flow paths, particularly in nontemperate ice masses, may be comparable with karstic systems (e.g. ...
... (Fig. 2) was surveyed for the first time in October 1998 (Vatne, 2001), and was resurveyed in April 2000 (Vatne and Refsnes, 2003), spring 2004. Further ancillary data from a resurvey of the conduit in April 2014 are presented by Myreng (2015). The switch from autumn to spring surveying was to ensure instream pools were frozen, to enable access to greater depths. ...
... With recognition that englacial channel incision may be significant for meltwater flow paths in valley glaciers (Gulley et al., 2009a;Naegeli et al., 2014), ice caps and the Greenland Ice Sheet (Ahlstrøm, 2007;Andrews et al., 2014;Catania et al., 2008;McGrath et al., 2011;Reynaud and Moreau, 1994), it is vital to further refine the process mechanics of englacial conduit behaviour (e.g. Evatt, 2015). ...
Despite an interest in the hydraulic functioning of supraglacial and englacial
channels over the last 4 decades, the processes and forms of such
ice-bounded streams have remained poorly documented. Recent glaciological
research has demonstrated the potential significance of so-called
"cut-and-closure" streams, where englacial or subglacial flow paths are
created from the long-term incision of supraglacial channels. These flow paths
are reported to exhibit step-pool morphology, comprising knickpoints and/or
knickzones, exaggerated in dimensions in comparison to supraglacial channels.
However, little is known of the development of such channels' morphology.
Here, we examine the spatial organisation of step pools and the upstream
migration of steps, many of which form knickzones, with repeated surveys over
a 10-year period in an englacial conduit in cold-based Austre
Brøggerbreen, Svalbard. The observations show upstream step recession to
be the dominant process for channel evolution. This is paralleled by an
increase in average step height and conduit gradient over time.
Characteristic channel-reach types and step-riser forms are consistently
observed in each of the morphological surveys reported. We suggest that the
formation of steps has a hydrodynamic origin, where step-pool geometry is
more efficient for energy dissipation than meanders. The englacial channel
system is one in rapid transition towards a quasi-equilibrium form within a
decadal timescale. The evolution and recession of knickzones reported here
result in the formation of a 37 m deep moulin shaft, suggesting that over
time an incising supraglacial channel may evolve towards an englacial channel
form exhibiting a stable end-point characterised by a singular vertical
descent, which potentially can reach the glacier bed. This challenges the
prevailing notions that crevasses or hydrofractures are needed to form deep
moulins. Our observations highlight the need to further examine the
adjustment processes in cut-and-closure channels to better understand their
coupling to supraglacial meltwater sources and potential significance in
cold-based glacier hydrology and ice dynamics.
... Hodgkins (1997) showed the possibility for subglacial water flow and the concomitant erosion under cold-based glaciers. The subglacial water is thereby likely to originate from supraglacial channels, incising into the glacier, eventually reaching the bed (Gulley et al., 2009), allowing them to erode the there-available sediment (Naegeli et al., 2014). Fine-grained material is thereby mostly winnowed away, whereas larger boulders can accumulate at the channel floor and influence the hydraulic roughness of the channel (Gulley et al., 2014). ...
... Supraglacial channels on Tellbreen exist on the southern and northern lateral sides of the glacier, and several englacial and subglacial channels can be found at the glacier tongue, with a subglacial system emerging at the southern side. The existence of subglacial channels on Tellbreen is attributed to cut-and-closure incision of supraglacial channels from the surface (Gulley et al., 2009;Naegeli et al., 2014). The subglacial system at the southern side was open during winter 2019, thus allowing direct access to it. ...
Glacier hydrology describes water movement around, on, in and under glaciers. It plays an important role for glacier flow and thus ice transport into the sea and the associated sea level rise. It is further relevant for nutrient transport and release into ecosystems, for hydropower, and for drinking water supply in glaciated regions. Glacier related flood events are additionally a frequent geohazard, emphasizing the importance of accurate knowledge of glacier hydrology. This knowledge is, however, very limited due to general inaccessibility of glacial subsurface flows and thus lack of direct observations and technologies that could provide them. The present thesis therefore develops novel technologies, allowing to observe and study water flow inside glacial channels in detail, and applies them on Svalbard glaciers. For this, sensing drifters are proposed and their statistical repeatability tested. The instruments are then used to study water flow over glacier surfaces. Further, a method to reconstruct flow paths from drifter data is proposed and showcased with the example of a channel within a glacier. Additional speleological investigations provide permafrost temperatures under Svalbard glaciers and highlight the importance of meteorological glacier surface conditions for temperature and erosion of the glacier bed.
... Baelum and Benn (2011) found no evidence to suggest Tellbreen had ever undergone surge behaviour. Tellbreen has an active drainage system characterized by a network of supra-, en-and subglacial conduits formed by cut-and-closure processes (incision followed by roof closure ), which even within a cold glacier can route meltwater from the surface to the bed (Baelum and Benn, 2011; Naegeli and others, 2014). For the purposes of this study, the presence of active and abandoned conduits within the lower glacier tongue provided an accessible way to investigate ice facies and glaciological structures when they were largely free of water during spring. ...
... Three conduits, or caves, were investigated, named the southwest (SW), active conduit (AC) and northeast (NE) caves (Figs 1 and 2). The SW cave (Fig. 2a) is an abandoned conduit located close to the indistinct transition between ice-cored moraine and debris-covered glacier; the AC cave (Fig. 2b; 'Crack cave' in Naegeli and others, 2014) is the lowermost englacial section of a conduit that emerges from the glacier front at the cave entrance; and the NE cave (Fig. 2c) is an open, cavern-like area formed by meltout of the former northeast lateral channel ('Feather cave' in Naegeli and others, 2014). The AC and NE caves gave access to the glacier bed, while the SW cave is located $5 m above the bed. ...
ABSTRACT. Large numbers of small valley glaciers on Svalbard were thicker and more extensive during
the Little Ice Age (LIA), demonstrated by prominent ice-cored moraines up to several kilometres beyond
present-day margins. The majority of these glaciers have since experienced a long period of strongly
negative mass balance during the 20th century and are now largely frozen to their beds, indicating they
are likely to have undergone a thermal transition from a polythermal to a cold-based regime. We
present evidence for such a switch by reconstructing the former flow dynamics and thermal regime of
Tellbreen, a small cold-based valley glacier in central Spitsbergen, based on its basal sequence and
glaciological structures. Within the basal sequence, the underlying matrix-supported diamict is
interpreted as saturated subglacial traction till which has frozen at the bed, indicating that the thermal
switch has resulted in a cessation of subglacial sediment deformation due to freezing of the former
deforming layer. This is overlain by debris-poor dispersed facies ice, interpreted to have formed through
strain-induced metamorphism of englacial ice. The sequential development of structures includes
arcuate fracture traces, interpreted as shear planes formed in a compressive/transpressive stress
regime; and fracture traces, interpreted as healed extensional crevasses. The formation of these
sediment/ice facies and structures is indicative of dynamic, warm-based flow, most likely during the LIA
when the glacier was significantly thicker.
KEYWORDS: Arctic glaciology, basal ice, ice dynamics, structural glaciology, subglacial sediments
... Novērojumi šādu iespēju neapstiprina. Iekšledāja tuneļu formu un izvietojumu ledājos nosaka kāds no galvenajiem tuneļu veidošanās mehānismiem -iegraušanās un aizvēršanās mehānisms (Gulley et al., 2009), hidroplaisāšana (Naegeli et al., 2014) vai ūdens plūsma pavājinājuma zonās ledājā, piemēram, plaisās. ...
Monogrāfijas mērķis ir iepazīstināt Zemes zinātņu un citu dabaszinātņu studentus un plašāku sabiedrību ar jautājumiem par mūsdienu ledāju un ledus vairogu attīstību, klasifikāciju, plūsmas mehānismiem, deformāciju, hidroloģiju, termālo struktūru, izplatību, izmaiņām un aktuālākajiem zinātniskajiem pētījumiem, kā arī ar Latvijas Universitātes zinātnieku polāro ekspedīciju organizāciju, norisi un rezultātiem. Galvenā uzmanība grāmatā pievērsta mūsdienu ledāju, galvenokārt Arktikas un Antarktikas reģionu ledus vairogu, raksturojumam, jo šie ledāji ietver lielāko daļu pasaules ledāju ledus masas. Papildus aplūkota arī ledus un ledājiem līdzīgu formu izplatība Saules sistēmas debess ķermeņos. Vienlaikus ar izpratni par mūsdienu ledus vairogiem lasītājs gūs arī zināšanas par to, kā veidojušies, izzuduši pagātnes ledus vairogi, kas reiz klāja lielu daļu Ziemeļamerikas, Eirāzijas, iekļaujot Latviju, un kādi bijuši to dinamiskie procesi. Monogrāfiju bagātīgi ilustrē fotogrāfijas (tās galvenokārt uzņēmis grāmatas autors un viņa līdzgaitnieki), kā arī ekspedīcijās pētīto ledāju vizualizācijas, un šie materiāli nozīmīgi papildina tekstu, veicinot ar ledājiem saistīto procesu izpratni. Autors, pamatojoties uz savu pieredzi un novērojumiem mūsdienu ledājos, kā arī atspoguļoto jaunākajos zinātniskajos pētījumos, apskata nozīmīgākos pētniecības jautājumus un norises pasaules ledājos. Latvijas zinātnieku polāro ekspedīciju apraksts, cerams, kļūs par piemēru un iedvesmas avotu studentiem un pētniekiem, kas vēlas nākotnē turpināt attīstīt polāro pētījumu jomu Latvijā. Monogrāfijā apskatīta gan ekspedīciju organizācija un ikdiena, gan arī zinātniskie pētījumi un to rezultāti. Grāmata publicēta latviešu valodā, lai tā, kļūstot par vienu no retajiem uzziņu avotiem tiem latviešu lasītājiem, kuri vēlas izprast ledāju procesus un parādības dzimtajā valodā, veicinātu arī zinātnes terminoloģijas attīstību.
... The Ground Penetrating Radar survey shows that the maximal thickness of the glacier is about 200 m (Małecki, personal communication). Due to the presence of naled ice on the foreland of Ebbabreen, Rachlewicz et al. (2007) classified this glacier as polythermal even though some authors note the presence of naled ice also in front of the cold glaciers (Baelum and Benn 2011;Naegeli et al. 2014). Rachlewicz (2004) has estimated that the maxi− mum velocity of Ebbabreen is 10.8 m a −1 . ...
The Ebbabreen ice−cored moraine area is covered with a sediment layer of up to 2.5 m thick, which mostly consists of massive diamicton. Due to undercutting by lateral streams, debris flow processes have been induced in marginal parts of this moraine. It was recognized that the sedimentology of deposits within the deposition area of debris flows is the effect of: (1) the origin of the sediments, (2) the nature of the debris flow, and (3) post−debris flow reworking. Analysis of debris flow deposits in microscale (thin sections) suggests a common mixing during flow, even though a small amount of parent material kept its original structure. The mixing of sediments during flow leads to them having similar sedimentary characteristics across the deposition area regardless of local conditions (i.e. slope angle, water content, parent material lithology). After the deposition of sediments that were transported by the debris flow, they were then reworked by a further redeposition process, primarily related to meltwater stream action.
... Lateral meltwater channels have been considered indicative of cold-based or polythermal ice (Borgström, 1989;Dyke, 1990Dyke, , 1993Kleman et al., 1992;Sollid and Sørbel, 1994). However, they have been reported to form at the margins of decaying warm-based Alaskan glaciers (Syverson and Mickelson, 2009), and surface-to-bed downcutting of a supraglacial dendritic network through the 'cut-and-closure' process (Vatne, 2001;Gulley et al., 2009a,b) has been observed under cold-based glaciers in Svalbard (Naegeli et al., 2014). How the thermal condition of an ice sheet generates, directs and diverts the hydrological system is a fundamental question, but is non-trivial to extract from the landform record. ...
Meltwater drainage through ice sheets has recently been a key focus of glaciological research due to its influence on the dynamics of ice sheets in a warming climate. However, the processes, topologies and products of ice sheet hydrology are some of the least understood components of both past and modern ice sheets. This is to some extent a result of a disconnect between the fields of theoretical, contemporary observational and palaeo-glaciology that each approach ice sheet hydrology from a different perspective and with different research objectives. With an increasing realisation of the potential of using the past to inform on the future of contemporary ice sheets, bridging the gaps in the understanding of ice sheet hydrology has become paramount. Here, we review the current state of knowledge about ice sheet hydrology from the perspectives of theoretical, observational and palaeo-glaciology. We then explore and discuss some of the key questions in understanding and interpretation between these research fields, including: 1) disagreement between the palaeo-record, glaciological theory and contemporary observations in the operational extent of channelised subglacial drainage and the topology of drainage systems; 2) uncertainty over the magnitude and frequency of drainage events associated with geomorphic activity; and 3) contrasts in scale between the three fields of research, both in a spatial and temporal context. The main concluding points are that modern observations, modelling experiments and inferences from the palaeo-record indicate that drainage topologies may comprise a multiplicity of forms in an amalgam of drainage modes occurring in different contexts and at different scales. Drainage under high pressure appears to dominate at ice sheet scale and might in some cases be considered efficient; the sustainability of a particular drainage mode is governed primarily by the stability of discharge. To gain better understanding of meltwater drainage under thick ice, determining what drainage topologies are reached under high pressure conditions is of primary importance. Our review attests that the interconnectivity between research sub-disciplines in progressing the field is essential, both in interpreting the palaeo-record and in developing physical understanding of glacial hydrological processes and systems.
... Consequently, our observations highlight that contemporary models utilised to estimate englacial conduit closure rates may not be appropriate and more field data is needed to constrain the nature of channel closure and processes that contribute to channel maintenance. This is particularly critical with the growing recognition of the role englacial channel incision may hold for meltwater flowpaths in valley glaciers (Gulley et al., 2009b;Naegeli et al., 2014) or potentially areas within Earth's ice caps and the Greenland Ice Sheet where evidence suggests the potential for laterally flowing or 5 tortuous englacial channels (e.g. Reynaud and Moreau, 1994;Ahlstrøm, 2007;Catania et al., 2008;McGRath et al., 2011;Andrews et al., 2014). ...
Despite an interest in the hydraulic functioning of supraglacial and englacial channels over the last four decades, the processes and forms of such ice-bounded streams have remained poorly documented. Recent glaciological research has demonstrated the potential significance of so-called "cut and closure" streams, where englacial or subglacial flowpaths are created from the long-term incision of supraglacial channels. These flowpaths are reported to exhibit step-pool morphology, comprising knickpoints and/or knickzones, albeit exaggerated in dimensions in comparison to their supraglacial channel counterparts. However, little is known of the development of such channels' morphology. Here, we examine the spatial organization of step-pools and the upstream migration of steps, many of which form knickzones, with repeated surveys over a 10 year period in an englacial conduit in cold-based Austre Brøggerbreen, Svalbard. The observations show upstream knickpoint recession to be the dominant process for channel evolution. This is paralleled by an increase in average step height and conduit gradient over time. Characteristic channel reach types and step-riser forms are consistently observed in each of the morphological surveys reported. We suggest that the formation of steps has a hydrodynamic origin, where step-pool geometry is more efficient for energy dissipation than meanders, and that the englacial channel system is one in rapid transition rather than in dynamic equilibrium. The evolution and recession of knickzones reported here result in the formation of a 37 m moulin, suggesting over time the englacial channel may evolve towards a stable end-point characterised by a singular vertical descent to the local hydraulic base level. In light of this, our observations highlight the need to further examine the adjustment processes in cut-and-closure channels to better understand their coupling to supraglacial meltwater sources and role and potential significance in cold-based glacier hydrology and ice dynamics.
... The Ground Penetrating Radar survey shows that the maximal thickness of the glacier is about 200 m (Małecki, personal communication). Due to the presence of naled ice on the foreland of Ebbabreen, Rachlewicz et al. (2007) classified this glacier as polythermal even though some authors note the presence of naled ice also in front of the cold glaciers (Baelum and Benn 2011;Naegeli et al. 2014). Rachlewicz (2004) has estimated that the maxi− mum velocity of Ebbabreen is 10.8 m a −1 . ...
The Ebbabreen ice−cored moraine area is covered with a sediment layer of up to 2.5 m thick, which mostly consists of massive diamicton. Due to undercutting by lateral streams, debris flow processes have been induced in marginal parts of this moraine. It was recognized that the sedimentology of deposits within the deposition area of debris flows is the effect of: (1) the origin of the sediments, (2) the nature of the debris flow, and (3) post− −debris flow reworking. Analysis of debris flow deposits in microscale (thin sections) sug− gests a common mixing during flow, even though a small amount of parent material kept its original structure. The mixing of sediments during flow leads to them having similar sedi− mentary characteristics across the deposition area regardless of local conditions (i.e. slope angle, water content, parent material lithology). After the deposition of sediments that were transported by the debris flow, they were then reworked by a further redeposition process, primarily related to meltwater stream action.
The centennial response of land-terminating glaciers in Greenland to climate change is largely unknown. Yet, such information is important to understand ongoing changes and for projecting the future evolution of Arctic subpolar glaciers, meltwater runoff, and sediment fluxes. This paper analyses the topography, geomorphology, and sedimentology of prominent moraine ridges and the proglacial areas of ice cap outlet glaciers on the Qaanaaq peninsula (Piulip Nunaa). We determine geometric changes of glaciers since the neoglacial maximum; the Little Ice Age (LIA), and we compare glacier behaviour during the LIA with that of the present day. There has been very little change in the rate of volume loss of each outlet glacier since the LIA compared with the rate between 2000 and 2019. However, the percentage of each glacier that is likely composed of cold-based ice has increased since the LIA, typically by 20%. The LIA moraines comprise subrounded, striated, and faceted clasts that evidence subglacial transport, and outwash plains, flutes, kames, and eskers that evidence subglacial motion and meltwater within temperate ice. Contrastingly, contemporary ice margins and their convex ice surfaces comprise pronounced primary foliation, ephemeral supraglacial drainage, sediment drapes from thrust plane fractures, and an absence of open crevasses and moulins. These calculations and observations together lead us to interpret that these outlet glaciers have transitioned towards an increasingly cold-based thermal regime despite a warming regional climate. Thermal regime transitions control glacier dynamics and therefore should be incorporated into glacier evolution models, especially where polythermal glaciers prevail and where climate is changing rapidly.
Understanding glacier drainage system behaviour and its response to increased meltwater production faces several challenges in the High Arctic because many glaciers are transitioning from polythermal to almost entirely cold thermal structures. We, therefore, used ground-penetrating radar data to investigate the thermal structure and drainage system of Waldemarbreen in Svalbard: a small High Arctic glacier believed to be undergoing thermal change. We found that Waldemarbreen retains up to 80 m of temperate ice in its upper reaches, but this thickness most likely is a relict from the Little Ice Age when greater ice volumes were insulated from winter cooling and caused greater driving stresses. Since then, negative mass balance and firn loss have prevented latent heat release and allowed near-surface ice temperatures to cool in winter, thus reducing the thickness of the temperate ice. Numerous reflectors that can be traced up-glacier are interpreted as englacial channels formed by hydrofracturing in the crevassed upper region of the glacier. The alternative cut and closure mechanism of conduit initiation only forms conduits in parts of the lower ablation area. Consequently, Waldemarbreen provides evidence that hydrofracturing at higher elevations can play a major role in englacial water drainage through cold ice.
The ongoing warming of cold regions is affecting hydrological processes, causing deep changes, such as a ubiquitous increase in river winter discharges. The drivers of this increase are not yet fully identified mainly due to the lack of observations and field measurements in cold and remote environments. In order to provide new insights into the sources generating winter runoff, the present study explores the possibility of extracting information from icings that form over the winter and are often still present early in the summer. Primary sources detection was performed using time-lapse camera images of icings found in both proglacial fields and upper alpine meadows in June 2016 in two subarctic glacierized catchments in the upper part of the Duke watershed in the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon. As images alone are not sufficient to entirely cover a large and hydrologically complex area, we explore the possibility of compensating for that limit by using four supplementary methods based on natural tracers: (a) stable water isotopes, (b) water ionic content, (c) dissolved organic carbon, and (d) cryogenic precipitates. The interpretation of the combined results shows a complex hydrological system where multiple sources contribute to icing growth over the studied winter. Glaciers of all sizes, directly or through the aquifer, represent the major parent water source for icing formation in the studied proglacial areas. Groundwater-fed hillslope tributaries, possibly connected to suprapermafrost layers, make up the other detectable sources in icing remnants. If similar results are confirmed in other cold regions, they would together support a multi-causal hypothesis for a general increase in winter discharge in glacierized catchments. More generally, this study shows the potential of using icing formations as a new, barely explored source of information on cold region winter hydrological processes that can contribute to overcoming the paucity of observations in these regions.
Cold glacier beds, i.e., where the ice is frozen to its base, are widespread in polar regions. Common theories state that stable permafrost should exist under glacier beds on shorter timescales, varying from years to decades. Presently, only a few direct measurements of both subglacial permafrost and the processes influencing its thermal regime exist. Here, we present subglacial permafrost and active layer measurements obtained from within the basal drainage systems of two cold-based glaciers on Svalbard during the summer melt season. Temperature observations were obtained from subglacial sediment that was accessed through the drainage systems of the two glaciers in the previous winters. The temperature records cover the periods from spring to autumn in 2016 and 2019 at the glaciers Larsbreen and Tellbreen in central Svalbard. The ground temperature below Larsbreen indicates colder ground conditions, whereas the temperatures of the Tellbreen drainage system show considerably warmer conditions, close to the freezing point. We suggest the latter is due to the presence of liquid water all year round inside the Tellbreen drainage system. Both drainage systems investigated show an increase in subglacial sediment temperatures after the disappearance of snow bridges and the subsequent connection to surface meltwater supply at the start of the summer melt season. Temperature records show influence of sudden summer water supply events, when heavy melt and rain left their signatures on the thermal regime and the erosion of the glacier bed. Observed vertical erosion can reach up to 0.9 m d-1 at the base of basal drainage channels during summer. We also show that the thermal regime under the subglacial drainage systems is not stable during summer but experiences several freeze–thaw cycles driven by weather events. Our results show the direct importance of heavy melt events and rain on the thermal regime of subglacial permafrost and the erosion of the glacier bed in the vicinity of subglacial drainage channels. Increased precipitation and surface melt, as expected for future climate, will therefore likely lead to increased degradation of subglacial permafrost, as well as higher subglacial erosion of available sediment around the preferential hydrological paths. This in turn might have significant impacts on proglacial and fjord ecosystems due to increased sediment and nutrient input.
Englacial conduits act as water pathways to feed surface meltwater into the subglacial drainage system. A change of meltwater into the subglacial drainage system can alter the glacier's dynamics. Between 2012 and 2019, repeated 25 MHz ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys were carried out over an active englacial conduit network within the ablation area of the temperate Rhonegletscher, Switzerland. In 2012, 2016, and 2017 GPR measurements were carried out only once a year, and an englacial conduit was detected in 2017. In 2018 and 2019 the repetition survey rate was increased to monitor seasonal variations in the detected englacial conduit. The resulting GPR data were processed using an impedance inversion workflow to compute GPR reflection coefficients and layer impedances, which are indicative of the conduit's infill material. The spatial and temporal evolution of the reflection coefficients also provided insights into the morphology of the Rhonegletscher's englacial conduit network. During the summer melt seasons, we observed an active, water-filled, sediment-transporting englacial conduit network that yielded large negative GPR reflection coefficients (<-0.2). The GPR surveys conducted during the summer provided evidence that the englacial conduit was 15–20m±6m wide, ∼0.4m±0.35m thick, ∼250m±6m long with a shallow inclination (2∘), and having a sinusoidal shape from the GPR data. We speculate that extensional hydraulic fracturing is responsible for the formation of the conduit as a result of the conduit network geometry observed and from borehole observations. Synthetic GPR waveform modelling using a thin water-filled conduit showed that a conduit thickness larger than 0.4 m (0.3× minimum wavelength) thick can be correctly identified using 25 MHz GPR data. During the winter periods, the englacial conduit no longer transports water and either physically closed or became very thin (<0.1 m), thereby producing small negative reflection coefficients that are caused by either sediments lying within the closed conduit or water within the very thin conduit. Furthermore, the englacial conduit reactivated during the following melt season at an identical position as in the previous year.
True diversity of geological heritage sites (geosites) is yet to be fully understood. New field studies of the Khadzhokh Canyon and its vicinities in the Western Caucasus (Mountainous Adygeya tourist destination, southwestern Russia) have allowed characterizing its geoheritage. Multiple unique features are assigned to geomorphological, stratigraphical, paleontological, palaeogeographical, sedimentary, tectonic, hydro(geo)logical, and coupled economical and geoexplorationgeoheritage types. This geoheritage is highlycomplex, and its rank is national. The unique features include (but not limited to) three canyons, Triassic stratigraphical sections, Late Jurassic coral reef, megaclast accumulations, chevron folds, and waterfalls. The geoheritage is distributed along the Khadzhokh Canyon and its branches. The configuration of thisgeositemakes it possible to propose a new category, namely dendritic geosites distinguished by continuous occurrence of geoheritage via branching stripes. Such geosites can be either natural (determined by dendritic drainage network and deep valley incision) or anthropogenic (determined by dendritic road network with lengthy road cuttings). In the former case, geosites are also geomorphosites and host viewpoint geosites.
Abstract. Between 2012 and 2019, repeated 25 MHz ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys were carried out over an active englacial conduit network within the ablation area of the temperate Rhonegletscher, Switzerland. In 2018 and 2019 the repetition survey rate was increased to monitor seasonal variations. The resulting GPR data were processed using an impedance inversion workflow to compute GPR reflection coefficients and layer impedances, which are indicative of the conduit's infill material. The spatial and temporal evolution of the reflection coefficients also provided insights into the morphology of the Rhonegletscher's englacial conduit network. During the summer melt seasons, we observed an active, water-filled, sediment transporting englacial conduit network that yielded large negative GPR reflection coefficients (< −0.2). For all the GPR surveys conducted during the summer, the englacial conduit was 15–20 m wide, ~ 0.4 m thick, ~ 250 m long with a shallow inclination (2°) and having a sinusoidal shape. We speculate that such a geometry is likely the result of extensional hydraulic fracturing. Synthetic GPR waveform modelling using a thin water-filled conduit showed that a conduit thickness larger than 0.4 m (0.3 x minimum wavelength) thick can be correctly identified using 25 MHz GPR data. During the winter periods, the englacial conduit shuts down and either physically closed or becomes very thin (< 0.1 m), thereby producing small negative reflection coefficients that are caused by either sediments lying within the closed conduit or water within the very thin conduit. Furthermore, the englacial conduit reactivated during the following melt season at an identical position as in the previous year.
Recent speleological surveys of meltwater drainage systems in cold and polythermal glaciers have documented dynamic englacial and in some cases subglacial conduits formed by the ‘cut-and-closure’ mechanism. Investigations of the spatial distribution of such conduits often require a combination of different methods. Here, we studied the englacial drainage system in the cold glacier Longyearbreen, Svalbard by combining speleological exploration of a 478 m long meltwater conduit with a high-resolution ground penetrating radar (GPR) survey with two different centre-frequencies (25 and 100 MHz). The results yielded a 3-D documentation of the present englacial drainage system. The study shows that the overall form of englacial conduits can be detected from velocity−depth converted GPR data, and that the 3-D model can facilitate a method to pinpoint the reflections in a radargram corresponding with the englacial drainage system, although fine detail cannot be resolved. Visible reflections approximately parallel to the mapped englacial water drainage system likely result from sediment incorporated in the ice or from abandoned parts of the englacial drainage system.
Proglacial icings (also known as naled or aufeis) are frequently observed in the forefields of polar glaciers. Their formation has been ascribed to the refreezing of upwelling groundwater that has originated from subglacial melt, and thus the presence of icings has been used as evidence of polythermal glacier regime. We provide an updated analysis of icing occurrence in Svalbard and test the utility of icings as an indicator of thermal regime by comparing icing presence with: (1) mean glacier thickness, as a proxy for present thermal regime; and (2) evidence of past surge activity, which is an indicator of past thermal regime. A total of 279 icings were identified from TopoSvalbard imagery covering the period 2008-2012, of which 143 corresponded to icings identified by Bukowska-Jania and Szafraniec (2005) from aerial photographs from 1990. Only 46% of icings observed in 2008-2012 were found to occur at glaciers with thicknesses consistent with a polythermal regime, meaning a large proportion were associated with glaciers predicted to be of a cold or transitional thermal regime. As a result, icing presence alone may be an unsuitable indicator of glacier regime. We further found that, of the 279 glaciers with icings, 63% of cold-based glaciers and 64% of transitional glaciers were associated with evidence of surge activity. We therefore suggest that proglacial icing formation in Svalbard may reflect historical (rather than present) thermal regime, and that icings possibly originate from groundwater effusion from subglacial taliks that persist for decades following glacier thinning and associated regime change.
This paper presents new data obtained by speleological surveys and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) on a cut-and-closure conduit in Scott Turnerbreen, a small cold glacier in Svalbard, Norwegian Arctic. We use these data to propose criteria for the identification of cut-and-closure conduits from GPR data. In addition, we describe subglacial and englacial structures exposed in the conduit, which shed light on the former dynamic behaviour of the glacier. The glacier bed consists of a thick layer of subglacial traction till, from which till-filled fractures extend upward into the ice. These observations show that Scott Turnerbreen was formerly warm-based, and are consistent with a surge or surge-like behaviour. The channel system was also imaged using GPR. Varying channel morphologies have distinctive signatures on GPR profiles, allowing the identification and mapping of englacial drainage systems in situations where direct access is impossible.
A combination of speleological exploration and high resolution radar survey was conducted to investigate the englacial and subglacial drainage system of Longyearbreen. The direct observations was compared with the remotely sensed data in a 3D visualization of the glacier system using Petrel software package. In addition, a radar survey covering the entire glacier providing information regarding the change in the glacier thermal regime over time.
Previously it was assumed that no englacial- and subglacial systems form in cold glaciers because cold ice would act as a barrier to water flow (Hodgkins, 1997); see also model of Shreve (Shreve, 1972) for the evolution of the englacial melt systems. However, our data shows that the meltwater conduits of Longyearbreen were formed through the cut-and-closure process as first described conceptually by (Gulley, 2009) and that englacial and subglacial drainage conduits indeed can develop in an un-crevassed, cold glacier.
It is important to investigate whether the meltwater reach the bed of a cold glacier because this would significant influence its dynamic behavior of the glacier and its response to the rising temperatures. Minor valley glaciers in Spitsbergen will be one of the main contributers to the near-future sea level rise (Meier et al., 2007).
The morphology of englacial drainage networks and their temporal evolution are poorly characterised, particularly within cold ice masses. At present, direct observations of englacial channels are restricted in both spatial and temporal resolution. Through novel use of a terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) system, the interior geometry of an englacial channel in Austre Brøggerbreen, Svalbard, was reconstructed and mapped. Twenty-eight laser scan surveys were conducted in March 2016, capturing the glacier surface around a moulin entrance and the uppermost 122 m reach of the adjoining conduit. The resulting point clouds provide detailed 3-D visualisation of the channel with point accuracy of 6.54 mm, despite low (<60%) overall laser returns as a result of the physical and optical properties of the clean ice, snow, hoar frost and sediment surfaces forming the conduit interior. These point clouds are used to map the conduit morphology, enabling extraction of millimetre-to-centimetre scale geometric measurements. The conduit meanders at a depth of 48 m, with a sinuosity of 2.7, exhibiting teardrop shaped cross-section morphology. This improvement upon traditional surveying techniques demonstrates the potential of TLS as an investigative tool to elucidate the nature of glacier hydrological networks, through reconstruction of channel geometry and wall composition.
We develop theoretically a description of a possible subglacial drainage mechanism for glaciers and ice sheets moving over saturated, deformable till. The model is based on the plausible assumption that flow of water in a thin film at the ice-till interface is unstable to the formation of a channelized drainage system, and is restricted to the case in which meltwater cannot escape through the till to an underlying aquifer. In describing the physics of such channelized drainage, we have generalized and extended Röthlisberger’s model of channels cut into basal ice to include “canals” cut into the till, paying particular attention to the role of sediment properties and the mechanics of sediment transport. We show that sediment-floored Röthlisberger (R) channels can exist for high effective pressures, and wide, shallow, ice-roofed canals cut into the till for low effective pressures. Canals should form a distributed, non-arborescent system, unlike R channels. For steep slopes typical of alpine glaciers, both drainage systems can exist, but with the water pressure lower in the R channels than in the canals; the canal drainage should therefore be unstable in the presence of channels. For small slopes typical of ice sheets, only canals can exist and we therefore predict that, if channelized meltwater flow occurs under ice sheets moving over deformable till, it takes the form of shallow, distributed canals at low effective pressure, similar to that measured at Ice Stream B in West Antarctica. Geologic evidence derived from land forms and deposits left by the Pleistocene ice sheets in North America and Europe is also consistent with predictions of the model.
Proglacial icings accumulate in front of many High Arctic glaciers during the winter months, as water escapes from englacial or subglacial storage. Such icings have been interpreted as evidence for warm-based subglacial conditions, but several are now known to occur in front of cold-based glaciers. In this study, we investigate the drainage system of Tellbreen, a 3.5 km long glacier in central Spitsbergen, where a large proglacial icing develops each winter, to determine the location and geometry of storage elements. Digital elevation models (DEMs) of the glacier surface and bed were constructed using maps, differential GPS and ground penetrating radar (GPR). Rates of surface lowering indicate that the glacier has a long-term mass balance of −0.6 ± 0.2 m/year. Englacial and subglacial drainage channels were mapped using GPR, showing that Tellbreen has a diverse drainage system that is capable of storing, transporting and releasing water year round. In the upper part of the glacier, drainage is mainly via supraglacial channels. These transition downglacier into shallow englacial "cut and closure" channels, formed by the incision and roof closure of supraglacial channels. Below thin ice near the terminus, these channels reach the bed and contain stored water throughout the winter months. Even though no signs of temperate ice were detected and the bed is below pressure-melting point, Tellbreen has a surface-fed, channelized subglacial drainage system, which allows significant storage and delayed discharge.
This paper describes gas composition, total gas content and bubbles characteristics in winter lake ice for four adjacent lakes in a discontinuous permafrost area. Our gas mixing ratios for O2, N2, CO2, and CH4 suggest that gas exchange occurs between the bubbles and the water before entrapment in the ice. Comparison between lakes enabled us to identify 2 major "bubbling events" shown to be related to a regional drop of atmospheric pressure. Further comparison demonstrates that winter lake gas content is strongly dependent on hydrological connections: according to their closed/open status with regards to water exchange, lakes build up more or less greenhouse gases (GHG) in their water and ice cover during the winter, and release it during spring melt. These discrepancies between lakes need to be taken into account when establishing a budget for permafrost regions. Our analysis allows us to present a new classification of bubbles, according to their gas properties. Our methane emission budgets (from 6.52 10−5 to 12.7 mg CH4 m−2 d−1 at 4 different lakes) for the three months of winter ice cover is complementary to other budget estimates, as our approach encompasses inter- and intra-lake variability.
Most available studies on boreal lakes have focused on quantifying GHG emissions from sediment by means of various systems collecting gases at the lake surface, and this mainly during the summer "open water" period. Only few of these have looked at the gas enclosed in the winter ice-cover itself. Our approach enables us to integrate, for the first time, the history of winter gas emission for this type of lakes.
ABSTRACT. Large numbers of small valley glaciers on Svalbard were thicker and more extensive during
the Little Ice Age (LIA), demonstrated by prominent ice-cored moraines up to several kilometres beyond
present-day margins. The majority of these glaciers have since experienced a long period of strongly
negative mass balance during the 20th century and are now largely frozen to their beds, indicating they
are likely to have undergone a thermal transition from a polythermal to a cold-based regime. We
present evidence for such a switch by reconstructing the former flow dynamics and thermal regime of
Tellbreen, a small cold-based valley glacier in central Spitsbergen, based on its basal sequence and
glaciological structures. Within the basal sequence, the underlying matrix-supported diamict is
interpreted as saturated subglacial traction till which has frozen at the bed, indicating that the thermal
switch has resulted in a cessation of subglacial sediment deformation due to freezing of the former
deforming layer. This is overlain by debris-poor dispersed facies ice, interpreted to have formed through
strain-induced metamorphism of englacial ice. The sequential development of structures includes
arcuate fracture traces, interpreted as shear planes formed in a compressive/transpressive stress
regime; and fracture traces, interpreted as healed extensional crevasses. The formation of these
sediment/ice facies and structures is indicative of dynamic, warm-based flow, most likely during the LIA
when the glacier was significantly thicker.
KEYWORDS: Arctic glaciology, basal ice, ice dynamics, structural glaciology, subglacial sediments
Modern interest in water flow through glaciers can be dated from a pair of theoretical papers published in 1972. In one of these, Shreve (1972) discussed the influence of ice pressure on the direction of water flow through and under glaciers, and in the other Röthlisberger (1972) presented a theoretical model for calculating water pressures in subglacial conduits. Through a combination of these theoretical considerations and field observations, it is concluded that the englacial drainage system probably consists of an arborescent network of passages. The millimeter-sized finger-tip tributaries of this network join downward into ever larger conduits. Locally moulins provide large direct connections between the glacier surface and the bed. Beneath a valley glacier the subglacial drainage is likely to be in a tortuous system of linked cavities transected by a few relatively large and comparatively straight conduits. The average flow direction in the combined system is controlled by a combination of ice-overburden pressure and bed topography, and in general is not normal to contours of equal elevation on the bed. Although theoretical studies usually assume that subglacial conduits are semicircular in cross section, there are reasons for believing that this ideal is rarely realized in nature. Broad low conduits may be the rule. When a glacier is moving over a bed of unconsolidated sediment, some water may drain through the sediment. In addition, when high water pressures weaken the sediment, it may be squeezed into subglacial channels, blocking them.
Progress in glacier hydrology has focused on temperate glaciers, although partly or wholly non-temperate glaciers are found in many parts of the world, and significant areas of former ice sheets were probably non-temperate. It has usually been assumed that drainage from non-temperate glaciers consists of relatively dilute and invariable supraglacial runoff. In this paper, the hydrology of glaciers in the High-Arctic archipelago of Svalbard is examined. Variations in the thermal regimes of glaciers, and their implications for drainage, are first addressed. Results from Svalbard concerning meltwater discharge and storage, and solute and suspended-sediment dynamics are then reviewed. In general, meltwater penetration of non-temperate ice is limited, and drainage from non-temperate glaciers in Svalbard has many of the characteristics of sub-aerial drainage. However, it would be erroneous to view this drainage simply as dilute supraglacial runoff, as significant material transport occurs in suspension and solution. Furthermore, twentieth-century climate change has probably led to changes in the thermal regimes of some Svalbard glaciers, such that relict drainage structures are sometimes observed, while meltwater yields are augmented by runoff which can be attributed to the loss of mass from glaciers. At large spatial scales, turbid plumes observed at the marine margins of polythermal ice caps indicate that meltwater can be routed subglacially through non-temperate ice.
Hydraulic roughness accounts for energy dissipated as heat and should exert an important control on rates of subglacial conduit enlargement by melting. Few studies, however, have quantified how subglacial conduit roughness evolves over time or how that evolution affects models of conduit enlargement. To address this knowledge gap, we calculated values for two roughness parameters, the Darcy–Weisbach friction factor (f) and the Manning roughness coefficient (n), using dye tracing data from a mapped subglacial conduit at Rieperbreen, Svalbard. Values of f and n calculated from dye traces were compared with values of f and n calculated from commonly used relationships between surface roughness heights and conduit hydraulic diameters. Roughness values calculated from dye tracing ranged from 75–0.97 for f and from 0.68–0.09 s m-1/3 for n. Equations that calculate roughness parameters from surface roughness heights underpredicted values of f by as much as a factor of 326 and values of n by a factor of 17 relative to values obtained from the dye tracing study. We argue these large underpredictions occur because relative roughness in subglacial conduits during the early stages of conduit enlargement exceeds the 5% range of relative roughness that can be used to directly relate values of f and n to flow depth and surface roughness heights. Simple conduit hydrological models presented here show how parameterization of roughness impacts models of conduit discharge and enlargement rate. We used relationships between conduit relative roughness and values of f and n calculated from our dye tracing study to parameterize a model of conduit enlargement. Assuming a fixed hydraulic gradient of 0.01 and ignoring creep closure, it took conduits 9.25 days to enlarge from a diameter of 0.44 m to 3 m, which was 6–7-fold longer than using common roughness parameterizations. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Dye-trace breakthrough curves (BTCs) that increase in velocity and decrease in dispersivity through a melt season have been interpreted as indicating a switch from a distributed to a conduit subglacial drainage system, but this interpretation has not been validated in glaciers where the drainage system configuration was independently known. To test if processes other than a change in the configuration of the subglacial drainage system could produce similar BTCs, we measured BTCs from a persistent, mapped subglacial conduit beneath Rieperbreen, Svalbard, which lacks a distributed system because it is frozen to its bed. This conduit produced slow and highly dispersed BTCs early in the melt season when meltwater delivery rates were low, and fast and sharply peaked BTCs after the snowpack had retreated past the injection moulin. At Rieperbreen, the seasonal evolution of BTCs was controlled by decreases in conduit roughness as increased rates of meltwater delivery increased the relative submergence depths of rocks on the conduit floor. Because seasonal changes in roughness can produce slow and highly dispersed BTCs, dye-tracing studies may not be capable of uniquely identifying subglacial drainage system configurations. As a result, conduits may form earlier in melt seasons than previously recognized.
This paper describes gas composition, total gas content and bubbles characteristics in winter lake ice for four adjacent lakes in a discontinuous permafrost area. Our gas mixing ratios suggest that gas exchange occurs between the bubbles and the water before entrapment in the ice. Comparison between lakes enabled us to identify 2 major "bubbling events" shown to be related to a regional drop of atmospheric pressure. Further comparison demonstrates that winter lake gas content is strongly dependent on hydrological connections: according to their closed/open status with regards to water exchange, lakes build up more or less greenhouse gases (GHG) in their water and ice cover during the winter, and release it during spring melt. These discrepancies between lakes need to be taken into account when establishing a budget for permafrost regions. Our analysis allows us to present a new classification of bubbles, according to their gas properties. Our methane emission budget (from 6.52 10−5 to 12.7 mg CH4 m−2 d−1) for the three months of winter ice cover is complementary to the other budget estimates, taking into account the variability of the gas distribution in the ice and between the various types of lakes.
Most available studies on boreal lakes have focused on quantifying GHG emissions from sediment by means of various systems collecting gases at the lake surface, and this mainly during the summer "open water" period. Only few of these have looked at the gas enclosed in the winter ice-cover itself. Our approach enables us to integrate, for the first time, the history of winter gas emission for this type of lakes.
It is shown that internal drainage systems (IDS) have an identical structure despite of glaciers sizes and thermal conditions. IDS channels are formed in glaciers at the temperature of at least -1° � at the bottom. It is impossible to find the IDS in glaciers of lower ice temperatures. IDS are always developed in channels originating from: 1) crevasses systems 2) glacier and rock contacts 3) cutting from ice surface. At the base of intergrain veins in ice IDS channels are not formed. IDS are formed due to gradually increasing systems of upward channels on a glacier. IDS channels have undergone a quite certain way of evolution that depended on glacier conditions (glacier mobility, ice thickness and temperatures, formation of crevasses, etc.). IDS create an opportunity for a prompt transfer of climatic information from the surface of a glacier to its interior. Owing to the presence of IDS, glaciers react very quickly to (even short-term) climate changes, which is most noticeably shown in their movement in spring. Therefore glaciers without IDS are passive and react to climate changes poorly. IDS role increases at the stage of glaciers destruction or at glaciers tongues after surge. IDS development very often provides accelerated glaciers destruction when other ablation types are not possible (debris-covered glaciers). IDS played an important role in destruction of the glacial sheet in the last glaciation during its degradation.
We develop theoretically a description of a possible subglacial drainage mechanism for glaciers and ice sheets moving over saturated, deformable till. The model is based on the plausible assumption that flow of water in a thin film at the ice-till interface is unstable to the formation of a channelized drainage system, and is restricted to the case in which meltwater cannot escape through the till to an underlying aquifer. In describing the physics of such channelized drainage, we have generalized and extended Rothlisberger's model of channels cut into basal ice to include "canals' cut into the till, paying particular attention to the role of sediment properties and the mechanics of sediment transport. We show that sediment-floored Rothlisberger (R) channels can exist for high effective pressures, and wide, shallow, ice-roofed canals cut into the till for low effective pressures. Canals should form a distributed, non-arborescent system, unlike R channels. Geologic evidence derived from land forms and deposits left by the Pleistocene ice sheets in North America and Europe is consistent with predictions of the model. -from Authors
On uncrevassed regions of polythermal glaciers, englacial conduits can form by incision of supraglacial stream channels followed by roof closure. The origin and evolution of examples in Longyearbreen, Svalbard, and Khumbu Glacier, Nepal, were determined by speleological survey. The development of perennial incised channels requires that incision is significantly faster than glacier surface ablation, and thus will be favoured by high meltwater discharges in combination with cool climatic conditions or thick debris cover. Incised canyons can become blocked by drifted winter snow, refrozen meltwater, ice rafting from non-local sources (allochthonous breccias) and roof collapses (autochthonous breccias). Conduit closure can also occur in response to ice creep, particularly at depth. Following isolation from the surface, englacial conduits continue to evolve by vadose incision down to local base level. In the case of Longyearbreen, incision allowed the channel to reach the glacier bed, but on Khumbu Glacier deep incision is prevented because an effectively impermeable terminal moraine provides a high base level for the glacier drainage system. During our period of observations, deeper parts of the Longyearbreen conduit became blocked by a combination of ice accumulation and creep, causing the stream course to be re-routed to higher levels. On that glacier, incision, blockage and upward re-routing are cyclic. We conclude that 'cut and closure' is the dominant mechanism of englacial conduit formation on uncrevassed regions of polythermal glaciers.
Englacial cave systems were mapped using speleological techniques in three debris-covered glaciers in the Khumbu Himal, Nepal. Detailed three-dimensional mapping of the cave systems and observations of relationships with structures in the surrounding ice show conduits formed by a mechanism directly analogous to speleogenesis in limestone karst. The highest, oldest parts of all passages developed along debris-filled crevasse traces with hydraulic conductivity in the range 10−4 to 10−5 m s−1. Conduits form when these hydraulically efficient pathways bridge between areas with different hydraulic potential. They then evolve by grading (through head-ward migration of nick points and vertical incision) to local base level, often the surface of supraglacial lakes. Most supraglacial lakes on Himalayan glaciers are perched above the elevation of the terminal stream, and exist for a few years before draining through englacial conduits. As a result, near-surface drainage evolution is frequently interrupted by base-level fall, and conduits may record multiple phases of incision. Conduits commonly migrate laterally during incision, undermining higher levels of the ice and encouraging collapse. Voids can be created by fluvial processes and collapse of crevassed ice. The oft-noted resemblance of the surface morphology of debris-covered glaciers to karst landscapes thus extends to the subsurface, and karst hydrology provides a framework for understanding englacial drainage.
Recent work has shown that surface-to-bed drainage systems re-form annually on parts of the Greenland ice sheet and some High Arctic glaciers, leading to speed-up events soon after the onset of summer melt. Surface observations and geophysical data indicate that such systems form by hydrologically driven fracture propagation (herein referred to as 'hydrofracturing'), although little is known about their characteristics. Using speleological techniques, we have explored and surveyed englacial drainage systems formed by hydrofracturing in glaciers in Svalbard, Nepal and Alaska. In Hansbreen, Svalbard, vertical shafts were followed through ∼60 m of cold ice and ∼10 m of temperate basal ice to a subglacial conduit. Deep hydrofracturing occurred at this site due to a combination of extensional ice flow and abundant surface meltwater at a glacier confluence. The englacial drainage systems in Khumbu Glacier, Nepal, and Matanuska Glacier, Alaska, USA, formed in areas of longitudinal compression and transverse extension and consist of vertical slots that plunge down-glacier at angles of 55° or less. The occurrence of englacial drainages initiated by hydrofracturing in diverse glaciological regimes suggests that it is a very widespread process, and that surface-to-bed drainage can occur wherever high meltwater supply coincides with ice subjected to sufficiently large tensile stresses.
Five ice cores have been retrieved from a transect close to the terminus of Glacier de Tsanfleuron, Switzerland. The cores extend from the ice surface to the glacier bed, and are 3.5–44.8 m long. Stratigraphic logging based on bubble size and density reveals the presence of a highly metamorphosed basal ice layer, about 10 m thick, from which all traces of bubble-rich ice have been removed. This bubble-poor ice, which corresponds closely with clear-facies ice observed in cavities beneath numerous temperate-based glaciers, contrasts with the overlying bubble-rich or bubble-foliated englacial ice and the underlying debris-rich and bubble-free dispersed-facies basal ice.
Down-core patterns in major-ion composition, stable-isotope composition and total gas content and composition are generally consistent with formation of clear-facies ice by deformation-related metamorphism of bubbly, englacial ice. In addition, isotopic data suggest that storage of downward-percolating meltwaters occurs close to the upper surface of the clear-facies ice layer, perhaps reflecting a local variation in ice permeability across the transition from englacial to clear-facies ice. Enrichment in crustally derived ionic species is noted in the lowermost decimetres of the debris-free, clear-facies ice that immediately overlies debris-rich dispersed-facies basal ice. This ionic enrichment in debris-free ice is interpreted in terms of active inter-granular meltwater flow within some decimetres of the glacier bed.
Two small high-Arctic glaciers (Longyearbreen and Larsbreen) on Svalbard (78°N 15°E) were studied with respect to glaciological and hydrological characteristics. Fieldwork during the melting season of 1993 and 1994 was coupled with digital map analysis based on high-resolution digital elevation models (DEM) to reveal the dynamics and temperature regime of small glaciers in a high-Arctic environment, and its relationship to the material transport and sedimentation of these glaciers. The study showed Longyearbreen and Larsbreen to be low activity glaciers, cold-based with temperate patches, and thus having a low potential of basal erosion. The transport of ions and suspended solids in the glacial meltwater implies storage of material in and around the glacier which comes into contact with the meltwater. The study suggests that small Arctic glaciers couple the slope system with the fluvial system and therefore build a highly effective denudation system. Small polythermal glaciers are therefore important in understanding Pleistocene and Holocene landform development in cold regions.
Understanding water movement through a glacier is fundamental to several critical issues in glaci-ology, including glacier dynamics, glacier-induced floods, and the prediction of runoff from glacierized drainage basins. To this end we have synthesized a conceptual model of water movement through a temper-ate glacier from the surface to the outlet stream. Pro-cesses that regulate the rate and distribution of water input at the glacier surface and that regulate water movement from the surface to the bed play important but commonly neglected roles in glacier hydrology. Where a glacier is covered by a layer of porous, perme-able firn (the accumulation zone), the flux of water to the glacier interior varies slowly because the firn tempo-rarily stores water and thereby smooths out variations in the supply rate. In the firn-free ablation zone, in con-trast, the flux of water into the glacier depends directly on the rate of surface melt or rainfall and therefore varies greatly in time. Water moves from the surface to the bed through an upward branching arborescent net-work consisting of both steeply inclined conduits, formed by the enlargement of intergranular veins, and gently inclined conduits, spawned by water flow along the bottoms of near-surface fractures (crevasses). Engla-cial drainage conduits deliver water to the glacier bed at a limited number of points, probably a long distance downglacier of where water enters the glacier. Englacial conduits supplied from the accumulation zone are quasi steady state features that convey the slowly varying water flux delivered via the firn. Their size adjusts so that they are usually full of water and flow is pressurized. In contrast, water flow in englacial conduits supplied from the ablation area is pressurized only near times of peak daily flow or during rainstorms; flow is otherwise in an open-channel configuration. The subglacial drainage system typically consists of several elements that are distinct both morphologically and hydrologically. An up-glacier branching, arborescent network of channels in-cised into the basal ice conveys water rapidly. Much of the water flux to the bed probably enters directly into the arborescent channel network, which covers only a small fraction of the glacier bed. More extensive spatially is a nonarborescent network, which commonly includes cav-ities (gaps between the glacier sole and bed), channels incised into the bed, and a layer of permeable sediment. The nonarborescent network conveys water slowly and is usually poorly connected to the arborescent system. The arborescent channel network largely collapses during winter but reforms in the spring as the first flush of meltwater to the bed destabilizes the cavities within the nonarborescent network. The volume of water stored by a glacier varies diurnally and seasonally. Small, temper-ate alpine glaciers seem to attain a maximum seasonal water storage of 200 mm of water averaged over the area of the glacier bed, with daily fluctuations of as much as 20 –30 mm. The likely storage capacity of subglacial cavities is insufficient to account for estimated stored water volumes, so most water storage may actually occur englacially. Stored water may also be released abruptly and catastrophically in the form of outburst floods.
Much renewed research interest in Arctic regions stems from the increasing concentration of atmospheric greenhouse gases and the alleged climatic sensitivity of high latitude areas. Glacier and permafrost changes are among a number of proxies used for monitoring past and present Arctic climate change. Here we present observations on frozen in situ soil and vegetation, found below cold-based glacier Longyearbreen (78813?N), 2 km upstream from the present glacier terminus. Dating of the relict vegetation indicates that the glacier has increased in length from about 3 km to its present size of about 5 km during the last c. 1100 years. The meteorological setting of non-surging Longyearbreen suggests this example of late-Holocene glacier growth represents a widespread phenomenon in Svalbard and in adjoining Arctic regions. In addition, we use the subglacial permafrozen soil system to evaluate microbial survival capacity over considerable time periods, and we present evidence for microbes having survived more than 1100 years in a subglacial, permafrozen state.
The sum of winter accumulation and summer losses of mass from glaciers and ice sheets (net surface mass balance) varies with changing climate. In the Arctic, glaciers and ice caps, excluding the Greenland Ice Sheet, cover about 275,000 km2of both the widely glacierized archipelagos of the Canadian, Norwegian, and Russian High Arctic and the area north of about 60°N in Alaska, Iceland, and Scandinavia. Since the 1940s, surface mass balance time-series of varying length have been acquired from more than 40 Arctic ice caps and glaciers. Most Arctic glaciers have experienced predominantly negative net surface mass balance over the past few decades. There is no uniform recent trend in mass balance for the entire Arctic, although some regional trends occur. Examples are the increasingly negative mass balances for northern Alaska, due to higher summer temperatures, and increasingly positive mass balances for maritime Scandinavia and Iceland, due to increased winter precipitation. The negative mass balance of most Arctic glaciers may be a response to a step-like warming in the early twentieth century at the termination of the cold Little Ice Age. Arctic ice masses outside Greenland are at present contributing about 0.13 mm yr−1to global sea-level rise.
Glaciers and ice caps (GICs) are important contributors to present-day global mean sea level rise. Most previous global mass balance estimates for GICs rely on extrapolation of sparse mass balance measurements representing only a small fraction of the GIC area, leaving their overall contribution to sea level rise unclear. Here we show that GICs, excluding the Greenland and Antarctic peripheral GICs, lost mass at a rate of 148 ± 30 Gt yr(-1) from January 2003 to December 2010, contributing 0.41 ± 0.08 mm yr(-1) to sea level rise. Our results are based on a global, simultaneous inversion of monthly GRACE-derived satellite gravity fields, from which we calculate the mass change over all ice-covered regions greater in area than 100 km(2). The GIC rate for 2003-2010 is about 30 per cent smaller than the previous mass balance estimate that most closely matches our study period. The high mountains of Asia, in particular, show a mass loss of only 4 ± 20 Gt yr(-1) for 2003-2010, compared with 47-55 Gt yr(-1) in previously published estimates. For completeness, we also estimate that the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, including their peripheral GICs, contributed 1.06 ± 0.19 mm yr(-1) to sea level rise over the same time period. The total contribution to sea level rise from all ice-covered regions is thus 1.48 ± 0.26 mm (-1), which agrees well with independent estimates of sea level rise originating from land ice loss and other terrestrial sources.
Proglacial icings accumulate in front of many High Arctic glaciers during the winter months, as water escapes from englacial or subglacial storage. Such icings have been interpreted as evidence for warm-based subglacial conditions, but several are now known to occur in front of cold-based glaciers. In this study, we investigate the drainage system of Tellbreen, a 3.5 km long cold-based polythermal glacier in central Spitsbergen, where a large proglacial icing develops each winter, to determine the location and geometry of storage elements. DEMs of the glacier surface and bed were constructed using maps, differential GPS and GPR. Patterns of surface lowering indicate that the glacier has a long-term mass balance of −0.6 ± 0.2 m/year. Englacial and subglacial drainage channels were mapped using Ground penetrating radar (GPR), showing that Tellbreen has a diverse drainage system that is capable of storing, transporting and releasing water year round. In the upper part of the glacier, drainage is mainly via supraglacial channels. These transition downglacier into shallow englacial "cut and closure" channels, formed by the incision and closure of supraglacial channels. Below thin ice near the terminus, these channels reach the bed and contain stored water throughout the winter months. Even though the bed is below pressure-melting point, Tellbreen has a surface-fed, channelized subglacial drainage system, which allows significant storage and delayed discharge.
Three early-melt-season high-velocity events (or ''spring events'') occurred on Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland, during the melt seasons of 1998 and 1999. The events involve enhanced glacier velocity during periods of rapidly increasing bulk discharge in the proglacial stream and high subglacial water pressures. However, differences in spatial patterns of surface velocity, internal ice deformation rates, the spatial extent of high subglacial water pressures and in rates of subglacial sediment deformation suggest different hydrological and mechanical controls. The data from two of the events suggest widespread ice-bed decoupling, particularly along a subglacial drainage axis creating the highest rates of basal motion and ''plug flow'' in the overlying ice. The other event showed evidence of less extensive ice-bed decoupling and sliding along the drainage axis with more mechanical support for ice overburden transferred to areas adjacent to decoupled areas. We suggest that: (1) plug flow may be a common feature on glaciers experiencing locally induced reductions in basal drag; (2) under certain circumstances, enhanced surface motion may be due in part to non-locally forced enhanced bed deformation; and (3) subglacial sediment deformation is confined to a depth of the order of centimetres to decimetres.
This paper presents new data obtained by speleological surveys and ground-penetrating radar (GPR) on a cut-and-closure conduit in Scott Turnerbreen, a small cold glacier in Svalbard, Norwegian Arctic. We use these data to propose criteria for the identification of cut-and-closure conduits from GPR data. In addition, we describe subglacial and englacial structures exposed in the conduit, which shed light on the former dynamic behaviour of the glacier. The glacier bed consists of a thick layer of subglacial traction till, from which till-filled fractures extend upward into the ice. These observations show that Scott Turnerbreen was formerly warm-based, and are consistent with a surge or surge-like behaviour. The channel system was also imaged using GPR. Varying channel morphologies have distinctive signatures on GPR profiles, allowing the identification and mapping of englacial drainage systems in situations where direct access is impossible.
Perennially frozen lakes are common features in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of South Victoria Land in Antarctica. Some of them, called wet based, contain liquid water capped by a permanent ice cover between 2.5 and 6 m in thickness. The others, called dry based, are ice-block lakes. The thickness of the latter may far exceed those of the former. Their level is rising from freezing of the surface flooding of summer meltwater. However, we show here for the first time, using isotopic analyses together with an ionic and gas content and composition study, that the ice of one of these dry-based lakes has been formed by complete freezing from top to bottom of a closed water reservoir and not by successive layers of icings (aufeis) piling on top of each other. We also show how this lake, dammed by a cold-based glacier, has contributed to the formation of the basal ice layer of this glacier.
Water flowing in tubular channels inside a glacier produces frictional heat, which causes melting of the ice walls. However the channels also have a tendency to close under the overburden pressure. Using the equilibrium equation that at every cross-section as much ice is melted as flows in, differential equations are given for steady flow in horizontal, inclined and vertical channels at variable depth and for variable discharge, ice properties and channel roughness. It is shown that the pressure decreases with increasing discharge, which proves that water must flow in main arteries. The same argument is used to show that certain glacier lakes above long flat valley glaciers must form in times of low discharge and empty when the discharge is high, i.e. when the water head in the subglacial drainage system drops below the lake level. Under the conditions of the model an ice mass of uniform thickness does not float, i.e. there is no water layer at the bottom, when the bed is inclined in the down-hill direction, but it can float on a horizontal bed if the exponent n of the law for the ice creep is small. It is further shown that basal streams (bottom conduits) and lateral streams at the hydraulic grade line (gradient conduits) can coexist. Time-dependent flow, local topography, ice motion, and sediment load are not accounted for in the theory, although they may strongly influence the actual course of the water. Computations have been carried out for the Gornergletscher where the bed topography is known and where some data are available on subglacial water pressure.
Gain or loss of the freshwater stored in Svalbard glaciers has both global implications for sea level and, on a more local scale, impacts upon the hydrology of rivers and the freshwater flux to fjords. This paper gives an overview of the potential runoff from the Svalbard glaciers. The freshwater flux from basins of different scales is quantified. In small basins (A < 10 km2), the extra runoff due to the negative mass balance of the glaciers is related to the proportion of glacier cover and can at present yield more than 20% higher runoff than if the glaciers were in equilibrium with the present climate. This does not apply generally to the ice masses of Svalbard, which are mostly much closer to being in balance. The total surface runoff from Svalbard glaciers due to melting of snow and ice is roughly 25 ± 5 km3 a?1, which corresponds to a specific runoff of 680 ± 140 mm a?1, only slightly more than the annual snow accumulation. Calving of icebergs from Svalbard glaciers currently contributes significantly to the freshwater flux and is estimated to be 4 ± 1 km3 a?1 or about 110 mm a?1.
Water flowing in tubular channels inside a glacier produces frictional heat, which causes melting of the ice walls. However the channels also have a tendency to close under the overburden pressure. Using the equilibrium equation that at every cross-section as much ice is melted as flows in, differential equations are given for steady flow in horizontal, inclined and vertical channels at variable depth and for variable discharge, ice properties and channel roughness. It is shown that the pressure decreases with increasing discharge, which proves that water must flow in main arteries. The same argument is used to show that certain glacier lakes above long flat valley glaciers must form in times of low discharge and empty when the discharge is high, i.e. when the water head in the subglacial drainage system drops below the lake level. Under the conditions of the model an ice mass of uniform thickness does not float, i.e. there is no water layer at the bottom, when the bed is inclined in the down-hill direction, but it can float on a horizontal bed if the exponent n of the law for the ice creep is small. It is further shown that basal streams (bottom conduits) and lateral streams at the hydraulic grade line (gradient conduits) can coexist. Time-dependent flow, local topography, ice motion, and sediment load are not accounted for in the theory, although they may strongly influence the actual course of the water. Computations have been carried out for the Gornergletscher where the bed topography is known and where some data are available on subglacial water pressure.
Perennially frozen lakes are common features in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of South Victoria Land in Antarctica. Some of them, called wet based, contain liquid water capped by a permanent ice cover between 2.5 and 6 m in thickness. The others, called dry based, are ice-block lakes. The thickness of the latter may far exceed those of the former. Their level is rising from freezing of the surface flooding of summer meltwater. However, we show here for the first time, using isotopic analyses together with an ionic and gas content and composition study, that the ice of one of these dry-based lakes has been formed by complete freezing from top to bottom of a closed water reservoir and not by successive layers of icings (aufeis) piling on top of each other. We also show how this lake, dammed by a cold-based glacier, has contributed to the formation of the basal ice layer of this glacier.
Thirty-four dye tracing experiments conducted from a moulin (m3Cf), located 1.5 km from the snout of the Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland, during the summers of 1989-1991 reveal two distinct drainage paths between the moulin and the glacier snout. In July, drainage appears to be predominantly via a hydraulically efficient channelised drainage system which results in dye breakthrough curves with velocities of >0.3 m s-1 and dispersivities of <10 m. In August, drainage is via a more hydraulically inefficient distributed system which results either in velocities of <0.2 m s-1 and dispersivities >10 m or in zero dye recovery. One injection conducted in mid July 1991 produced a double peaked breakthrough curve, indicating simultaneous drainage through both systems. The observed behaviour is opposite to that displayed by injections made at over 50 other moulins on the glacier, in which channelised flow replaces flow through a distributed system as the melt season progresses. It can be explained if moulin m3Cf intersects an englacial conduit which conveys water rapidly to a major subglacial channel in July when the distributed system is poorly developed and water pressures are high, but which is abandoned later in the year when increased glacier bed separation has expanded the drainage capacity of the distributed system. Dilution and retardation of dye within this enlarged distributed system can account for the frequency of zero recoveries from the August dye injections.
A network of passages situated along three-grain intersections enables water to percolate through temperate glacier ice. The deformability of the ice allows the passages to expand and contract in response to changes in pressure, and melting of the passage walls by heat generated by viscous dissipation and carried by above-freezing water causes the larger passages gradually to increase in size at the expense of the smaller ones. Thus, the behavior of the passages is primarily the result of three basic characteristics: (1) the capacity of the system continually adjusts, though not instantly, to fluctuations in the supply of melt water; (2) the direction of movement of the water is determined mainly by the ambient pressure in the ice, which in turn is governed primarily by the slope of the ice surface and secondarily by the local topography of the glacier bed; and, most important, (3) the network of passages tends in time to become arborescent, with a superglacial part much like an ordinary river system in a karst region, an englacial part comprised of tree-like systems of passages penetrating the ice from bed to surface, and a subglacial part consisting of tunnels in the ice carrying water and sediment along the glacier bed. These characteristics indicate that a sheet-like basal water layer under a glacier would normally be unstable, the stable form being tunnels; and they explain, among other things, why ice-marginal melt-water streams and lakes are so common, why eskers, which are generally considered to have formed in subglacial passages, trend in the general direction of ice flow with a tendency to follow valley floors and to cross divides at their lowest points, why they are typically discontinuous where they cross ridge crests, why they sometimes contain fragments from bedrock outcrops near the esker but not actually crossed by it, and why they seem to be formed mostly during the later stages of glaciation.
Mountain glaciers and ice caps (MG&IC) have been identified as primary source of eustatic sea level rise, ahead of the ice sheets, during recent decades. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that the sum of all contributions to sea-level rise for the period 1961-2004 was 1.1± 0.5 mm a-1, leaving 0.7±0.7 of the 1.8±0.5 mm a-1 observed sea-level rise unexplained. Here, we compute the global surface mass balance of all mountain glaciers and ice caps and find that part of this much-discussed gap can be attributed to a larger contribution than previously assumed from mass loss of MG&IC, especially those around the Antarctic Peninsula. We find a global surface mass loss of all MG&IC of 0.79±0.34 mm a-1 sea-level equivalent compared to IPCC's 0.50±0.18 mm a-1. The Antarctic MG&IC contributed 28% of the global estimate due to exceptional warming around the Antarctic Peninsula and high mass-balance sensitivities to temperature similar to those we find in maritime Iceland, Patagonia and Alaska. Our results highlight the role of the MG&IC around the Antarctic Peninsula where climate is distinctly different from the cold conditions of the ice sheet, and large mass balance sensitivities to temperature, exceptional warming and large area combine to yield large potential for glacier mass loss. We emphasize an urgent need for improved glacier inventory and in-situ mass balance data from this region especially in light of recently accelerated mass loss from MG&IC.
Observations from Ellesmere Island suggest that the connection between surface and subglacial drainage on a predominantly cold glacier is made abruptly by hydrologically-driven propagation of fractures from the surface to the bed. Where ice is 150 m thick, water ponded to a depth of 6.9 m within a supraglacial stream system before establishing a permanent bed connection. Multiple premonitory drainage events preceded the final drainage of ponded water, implying that fracturing is necessary, but insufficient, to establish a permanent link between surface and subglacial drainage. Refreezing of water that penetrates the first fractures to form may reseal the connection, while flow resistance within the subglacial system may delay the onset of continuous through-flow. A large volume of ponded water is required to enlarge fractures sufficiently by melting to maintain continuous drainage, while feedbacks between subglacial hydrology and ice dynamics may assist in maintaining the connection and initiating subglacial outflow.
Ground-penetrating radar profiles at 100 MHz have been collected over an englacial channel system on the cold-ice glacier austre Brøggerbreen, Svalbard. Analysis and synthetic modeling of the travel times and waveforms of the reflections from the channel have shown that after a near-vertical drop of ~45 m in a moulin, the watercourse flows ~900 m subhorizontally. The size of the conduit varies from a large semicircular channel, ~5 m wide at its base close to the moulin, to a vertically elongated ~2.5 m high channel close to the outlet. Variations in the depth of water along the channel have been calculated to be between 14 and 90% of the channel height using detailed analysis of waveforms. The low channel gradient (
The manner by which meltwater drains through a glacier is critical to
ice dynamics, runoff characteristics, and water quality. However, much
of the contemporary knowledge relating to glacier hydrology has been
based upon, and conditioned by, understanding gleaned from temperate
valley glaciers. Globally, a significant proportion of glaciers and ice
sheets exhibit nontemperate thermal regimes. The recent, growing concern
over the future response of polar glaciers and ice sheets to forecasts
of a warming climate and lengthening summer melt season necessitates
recognition of the hydrological processes in these nontemperate ice
masses. It is therefore timely to present an accessible review of the
scientific progress in glacial hydrology where nontemperate conditions
are dominant. This review provides an appraisal of the glaciological
literature from nontemperate glaciers, examining supraglacial,
englacial, and subglacial environments in sequence and their role in
hydrological processes within glacierized catchments. In particular, the
variability and complexity in glacier thermal regimes are discussed,
illustrating how a unified model of drainage architecture is likely to
remain elusive due to structural controls on the presence of water. Cold
ice near glacier surfaces may reduce meltwater flux into the glacier
interior, but observations suggest that the transient thermal layer of
near surface ice holds a hydrological role as a depth-limited aquifer.
Englacial flowpaths may arise from the deep incision of supraglacial
streams or the propagation of hydrofractures, forms which are readily
able to handle varied meltwater discharge or act as locations for water
storage, and result in spatially discrete delivery of water to the
subglacial environment. The influence of such drainage routes on
seasonal meltwater release is explored, with reference to summer season
upwellings and winter icing formation. Moreover, clear analogies emerge
between nontemperate valley glacier and ice sheet hydrology, the
discussion of which indicates how persistent reassessment of our
conceptualization of glacier drainage systems is required. There is a
clear emphasis that continued, integrated endeavors focused on process
glaciology at nontemperate glaciers are a scientific imperative to
augmenting the existing body of research centered on ice mass hydrology.
The internal geometry of three englacial conduits located on Austre Brøggerbreen, Svalbard, was investigated by tracer experiments and by direct exploration. The tracer tests produced short-lived and highly peaked tracer return curves with high through-flow velocities. The direct inspections revealed the entrances to be of two types. Type I consisted of a moulin with an initial 39 m vertical shaft drained by a semicircular and near-horizontal englacial channel trending diagonally across the direction of ice flow, parallel to tectonic structures observed on the ice surface. The type II entrances sloped gently into the ice in the direction of the ice flow, and became englacial by gradual down-cutting of supraglacial meltwater channels into the glacier surface. No traces of tectonic structures were observed in the ice surface that could have initiated the type II entrances. Englacial conduits with gentle slopes were meandering. With increasing slope, a winding waterfallplunge-pool geometry was developed, the channels being high (>3 m) compared to their width (30150 cm).
Fourteen englacial conduits were mapped within 2 km of the terminus of the temperate Matanuska Glacier, Alaska, USA, to ice depths of 65 m using speleological techniques. Detailed three-dimensional maps of the conduits were made over 3 years to characterize conduit relationships with glacier structural features and to track conduit evolution through time. All conduits consisted of single unbranching passages that followed fractures in the ice. All conduits were either too constricted to continue or became water-filled at their deepest explored point and were not able to be followed to the glacier bed. Conduit morphology varied systematically with the orientation of the glacier principal stresses, allowing them to be categorized into two broad classes. The first class of conduits were formed by hydrostatic crevasse penetration where a large supraglacial stream intersected longitudinal crevasses. These conduits plunged toward the glacier bed at angles of 30-40°. The second class of conduits formed where smaller streams sank into the glacier on shear crevasses. Many of these conduits changed direction dramatically where they intersected transverse crevasses at depth. These results suggest that the conduits observed in this study formed along fractures and, over their surveyed length, were not affected by gradients in ice overburden pressure.
Glacier surges tend to be initiated in relatively small regions, then propagate down-glacier, up-glacier and/or across-glacier. The processes controlling patterns and rates of surge propagation, however, are incompletely understood. In this paper, we focus on patterns of surge propagation in two confluent glaciers in Svalbard, and examine possible causes. One of these glaciers, Bakaninbreen, surged in 1985-95. The surge propagated ∼7 km down-glacier, but did not cross the medial moraine onto the other glacier, Paulabreen. When Paulabreen surged between 2003 and 2005, the surge wave travelled several km down-glacier, but its lateral boundary stayed very close to the medial moraine. The confluent glaciers formerly extended into a fjord, and bathymetric mapping and historical observations show that an active subglacial conduit has existed between Bakaninbreen and Paulabreen since at least the early 20th century. The existence of a persistent subglacial conduit below the medial moraine was confirmed when we entered and mapped a Nye channel at the confluence of Bakaninbreen and Paulabreen. We argue that the conduit acts as a barrier to surge propagation. If pressurized water below one branch of the glacier system reaches the conduit, water can be readily evacuated, preventing its propagation into the other branch.
It has been established that glacial icings are widespread on Spitsbergen. Supraglacial icings occur due to meltwater emerging at the cold glacier surface and filling englacial cavities. The formation of icings results in the reorganization of glacier runoff. In some cases the ice of the icings protects the glacier surface from summer melting. The author has identified 110 proglacial icings, occurring at the snouts of glaciers or at some distance from them, due to the emergence of water from the glacier or from the subglacial talik zone in winter. Maximum icing growth occurs in the first half of the winter. Genetically they belong to the intermediate type. The properties of the icings and the volume and chemical composition of the water forming them are reviewed. The existence of proglacial icings has been recorded in the cases of both temperate and transitional two‐layered glaciers, with areas ranging from 2.9 km to several hundred km; they are absent in the case of small glaciers which are frozen to their beds. The two main mechanisms controlling the occurrence of two‐layered glaciers, and related to glacier morphology, namely changes in climatic conditions and changes in types of ice‐formation, are described. The resultant glaciers may be either quasi‐stable or unstable. On the other hand a glacier may experience intense freezing in its upper part, which may lead to cessation of winter discharge and the initiation of a proglacial icing.
The anion compositions (SO24, HCO−3 and Cl−) of runoff from the Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland and Austre Brøggerbreen, Svalbard are compared to assess whether or not variations in water chemistry with discharge are consistent with current understanding of the subglacial drainage structure of warm- and polythermal-based glaciers. These glacial catchments have very different bedrocks and the subglacial drainage structures are also believed to be different, yet the range of anion concentrations show considerable overlap for SO2−4 and HCO−3. Concentrations of Cl− are higher at Austre Brøggerbreen because of the maritime location of the glacier. Correcting SO2−4 for the snowpack component reveals that the variation in non-snowpack SO2−4 with discharge and with HCO−3 is similar to that observed at the Haut Glacier d'Arolla. Hence, if we assume that the provenance of the non-snowpack SO2−4 is the same in both glacial drainage systems, a distributed drainage system also contributes to runoff at Austre Brøggerbreen. We have no independent means of testing the assumption at present. The lower concentrations of non-snowpack SO2−4 at Austre Brøggerbreen may suggest that a smaller proportion of runoff originates from a distributed drainage system than at the Haut Glacier d'Arolla.
Ideas about the character and evolution of englacial drainage systems have been deeply influenced by the theoretical model developed by Shreve [1972. Movement of water in glaciers. Journal of Glaciology 11(62), 205–214]. The Shreve model is based on three main assumptions: (1) englacial drainage is in steady state; (2) englacial water will flow along the steepest hydraulic gradient within the glacier; and (3) pressure head equals the pressure of the surrounding ice minus a small component due to melting of the walls. The Shreve model has been widely adopted as a fundamental component of englacial drainage theory. There is no evidence, however, that the model provides a realistic picture of actual glacial drainage systems.
The contribution to sea-level rise from mountain glaciers and ice caps has grown over the past decades. They are expected to remain an important component of eustatic sea-level rise for at least another century 1,2, despite indications of accelerated wastage of the ice sheets 3-5. However, it is difficult to project the future contribution of these small-scale glaciers to sea-level rise on a global scale. Here, we project their volume changes due to melt in response to transient, spatially differentiated twenty-first century projections of temperature and precipitation from ten global climate models. We conduct the simulations directly on the more than 120,000 glaciers now available in the World Glacier Inventory 6, and upscale the changes to 19 regions that contain all mountain glaciers and ice caps in the world (excluding the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets). According to our multi-model mean, sea-level rise from glacier wastage by 2100 will amount to 0.124 ± 0.037 m, with the largest contribution from glaciers in Arctic Canada, Alaska and Antarctica. Total glacier volume will be reduced by 21 ± 6%, but some regions are projected to lose up to 75% of their present ice volume. Ice losses on such a scale may have substantial impacts on regional hydrology and water availability 7.
Gain or loss of the freshwater stored in Svalbard glaciers has both global implications for sea level and, on a more local scale, impacts upon the hydrology of rivers and the freshwater flux to fjords. This paper gives an overview of the potential runoff from the Svalbard glaciers. The freshwater flux from basins of different scales is quantified. In small basins (A < 10 km2), the extra runoff due to the negative mass balance of the glaciers is related to the proportion of glacier cover and can at present yield more than 20% higher runoff than if the glaciers were in equilibrium with the present climate. This does not apply generally to the ice masses of Svalbard, which are mostly much closer to being in balance. The total surface runoff from Svalbard glaciers due to melting of snow and ice is roughly 25 ± 5 km3 a−1, which corresponds to a specific runoff of 680 ± 140 mm a−1, only slightly more than the annual snow accumulation. Calving of icebergs from Svalbard glaciers currently contributes significantly to the freshwater flux and is estimated to be 4 ± 1 km3 a−1 or about 110 mm a−1.
Based on observations of the 1982-1983 surge of Variegated Glacier, Alaska, a model of the surge mechanism is developed in terms of a transition from the normal tunnel configuration of the basal water conduit system to a linked cavity configuration that tends to restrict the flow of water, resulting in increased basal water pressures that cause rapid basal sliding. -from Author
Two indices are used to describe the aggregate shape and roundness characteristics of glacially transported clasts: the C40 index (the percentage of clasts with ) and the RA index (the percentage of very angular and angular clasts in a sample). Analysis of the between- and within-sample co-variance of these indices provides a powerful tool for discriminating actively- and passively-transported clasts in glacigenic deposits. Use of these indices is illustrated in an analysis of the form characteristics of clasts from lateral and frontal moraines at Storbreen, Jotunheimen. These fall between those of actively transported clasts in basal till (low C40 and RA values) and those of unmodified frost-weathered clasts (high C40 and RA values). Both indices decline down-moraine. Within-sample analyses of clast shape demonstrates that these aggregate clast form gradients reflect changes in the relative proportions of actively and passively transported debris on the moraines rather than progressive modification of actively transported clasts. These analyses also indicate that actively transported clasts form the dominant component of the moraines, particularly near the former glacier terminus. Further applications of the approach developed here are suggested.