Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-2016
Keywords
Cryospheric science, Hydrology
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13903
Abstract
Penetration of surface meltwater to the bed of the Greenland Ice Sheet each summer causes an initial increase in ice speed due to elevated basal water pressure, followed by slowdown in late summer that continues into fall and winter. While this seasonal pattern is commonly explained by an evolution of the subglacial drainage system from an inefficient distributed to efficient channelized configuration, mounting evidence indicates that subglacial channels are unable to explain important aspects of hydrodynamic coupling in late summer and fall. Here we use numerical models of subglacial drainage and ice flow to show that limited, gradual leakage of water and lowering of water pressure in weakly connected regions of the bed can explain the dominant features in late and post melt season ice dynamics. These results suggest that a third weakly connected drainage component should be included in the conceptual model of subglacial hydrology.
Rights Information
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Nature Communications, v. 7, art. 13903
Scholar Commons Citation
Hoffman, Matthew J.; Andrews, Lauren C.; Price, Stephen F.; Catania, Ginny A.; Neumann, Thomas A.; Lüthi, Martin P.; Gulley, Jason; Ryser, Claudia; Hawley, Robert L.; and Morriss, Blaine, "Greenland Subglacial Drainage Evolution Regulated by Weakly Connected Regions of the Bed" (2016). School of Geosciences Faculty and Staff Publications. 1082.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/geo_facpub/1082
