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Subglacial lakes and hydrology across the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands, West Antarctica
File(s)
Napoleoni_etal_TC_2020.pdf (25.59 MB)
Published version
Author(s)
Napoleoni, Felipe
Jamieson, Stewart SR
Ross, Neil
Bentley, Michael J
Rivera, Andrés
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Subglacial water plays an important role in ice sheet dynamics and stability. Subglacial lakes are often located at the onset of ice streams and have been hypothesised to enhance ice flow downstream by lubricating the ice–bed interface. The most recent subglacial-lake inventory of Antarctica mapped nearly 400 lakes, of which ∼ 14 % are found in West Antarctica. Despite the potential importance of subglacial water for ice dynamics, there is a lack of detailed subglacial-water characterisation in West Antarctica. Using radio-echo sounding data, we analyse the ice–bed interface to detect subglacial lakes. We report 33 previously uncharted subglacial lakes and present a systematic analysis of their physical properties. This represents a ∼ 40 % increase in subglacial lakes in West Antarctica. Additionally, a new digital elevation model of basal topography of the Ellsworth Subglacial Highlands was built and used to create a hydropotential model to simulate the subglacial hydrological network. This allows us to characterise basal hydrology, determine subglacial water catchments and assess their connectivity. We show that the simulated subglacial hydrological catchments of the Rutford Ice Stream, Pine Island Glacier and Thwaites Glacier do not correspond to their ice surface catchments.
Date Issued
2020-12-10
Date Acceptance
2020-09-25
Citation
The Cryosphere, 2020, 14 (12), pp.4507-4524
URI
URL
DOI
ISSN
1994-0416
Publisher
Copernicus Publications
Start Page
4507
End Page
4524
Journal / Book Title
The Cryosphere
Volume
14
Issue
12
Copyright Statement
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
License URL
Sponsor
Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
Identifier
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/14/4507/2020/
Grant Number
NE/G00465X/3
Subjects
Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences
0405 Oceanography
0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience
Publication Status
Published online
Date Publish Online
2020-12-10