TY - JOUR
T1 - Improved Monitoring of Subglacial Lake Activity in Greenland
AU - Sandberg Sørensen, L.
AU - Bahbah, R.
AU - Simonsen, S. B.
AU - Havelund Andersen, N.
AU - Bowling, J.
AU - Gourmelen, N.
AU - Horton, A.
AU - Karlsson, N. B.
AU - Leeson, A.
AU - Maddalena, J.
AU - McMillan, M.
AU - Solgaard, A. M.
AU - Wessel, B.
N1 - Acknowledgements. This study was carried out in the project POLAR+ 4DGreenland project (2020-2022), which was funded by the
European Space Agency (ESA) via ESA Contract No. 4000132139/20/I-EF. MM was additionally supported by the UK NERC Centre
for Polar Observation and Modelling, and the Lancaster University-UKCEH Centre of Excellence in Environmental Data Science. The
TanDEM-X data was provided by the German Aerospace Center (DLR) via TanDEM-X CoSSC proposal XTI_GLAC7335. We used
Ice velocity data from: Joughin, I., B. Smith, I. Howat, and T. Scambos. 2015, updated 2018. MEaSUREs Greenland Ice Sheet Ve460 locity Map from InSAR Data, Version 2, 0478 Boulder, Colorado USA. NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active
Archive Center. doi: https://doi.org/10.5067/OC7B04ZM9G6Q. [20190807]. Ice velocity maps were produced as part of the Programme
for Monitoring of the Greenland Ice Sheet (PROMICE) using Copernicus Sentinel-1 SAR images distributed by ESA, and were provided
by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) at http://www.promice.dk The Arctic DEM strips were downloaded from
https://www.pgc.umn.edu/data/arcticdem/
PY - 2023/10/17
Y1 - 2023/10/17
N2 - Subglacial lakes form beneath ice sheets and ice caps if water is available, and if bedrock and surface topography are able to retain the water. On a regional scale, the lakes modulate the timing and rate of freshwater flow through the subglacial system to the ocean by acting as reservoirs. More than one hundred hydrologically active subglacial lakes, that drain and recharge periodically, have been documented under the Antarctic ice sheet, while only a handful of active lakes have been identified in Greenland. The small size of the Greenlandic subglacial lakes puts additional demands on mapping capabilitie aiming to resolve the evolving surface topography in sufficient detail to record their temporal behavior. Here, we explore the potential for combining data from CryoSat-2, TanDEM-X, and ArcticDEM to document the evolution of four active subglacial lake sites in Greenland. The inclusion of the new data sources provides important information on lake activity, documenting that the ice surface collapse basin on Flade Isblink ice cap was 50 % (30 meters) deeper than previously recorded. We also present evidence of a new active subglacial lake in Southwest Greenland, which shows signs of being hydrologically connected to another subglacial lake in that region. These findings show how improving the measurement capabilities of subglacial lakes, improves our current understanding and knowledge of the subglacial water system and its connection to surface hydrology.
AB - Subglacial lakes form beneath ice sheets and ice caps if water is available, and if bedrock and surface topography are able to retain the water. On a regional scale, the lakes modulate the timing and rate of freshwater flow through the subglacial system to the ocean by acting as reservoirs. More than one hundred hydrologically active subglacial lakes, that drain and recharge periodically, have been documented under the Antarctic ice sheet, while only a handful of active lakes have been identified in Greenland. The small size of the Greenlandic subglacial lakes puts additional demands on mapping capabilitie aiming to resolve the evolving surface topography in sufficient detail to record their temporal behavior. Here, we explore the potential for combining data from CryoSat-2, TanDEM-X, and ArcticDEM to document the evolution of four active subglacial lake sites in Greenland. The inclusion of the new data sources provides important information on lake activity, documenting that the ice surface collapse basin on Flade Isblink ice cap was 50 % (30 meters) deeper than previously recorded. We also present evidence of a new active subglacial lake in Southwest Greenland, which shows signs of being hydrologically connected to another subglacial lake in that region. These findings show how improving the measurement capabilities of subglacial lakes, improves our current understanding and knowledge of the subglacial water system and its connection to surface hydrology.
UR - https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2022-263/
M3 - Article
VL - 2023
SP - 1
EP - 24
JO - The Cryosphere Discussions
JF - The Cryosphere Discussions
ER -