scholarly journals Hydrothermal structure of a polythermal glacier in Spitsbergen by measurements and numerical modeling

2016 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. V. Sosnovsky ◽  
Yu. Ya. Macheret ◽  
A. F. Glazovsky ◽  
I. I. Lavrentiev
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Modeling ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Lower Layer ◽  
Glacier Surface ◽  
Ablation Area ◽  
Radio Echo Sounding ◽  
Polythermal Glacier ◽  
Cover Thickness ◽  
Echo Sounding

Thickness of the upper cold ice layer in the ablation area of the polythermal glacier Grønfjordbreen (Spitsbergen) was estimated by means of numerical modeling. The results were compared with data of radio-echo sounding of the same glacier obtained in 1979 and 2012. Numerical experiments with changing water content in the lower layer of temperate ice and surface snow cover thickness made possible to compare calculated and modeled cold ice thicknesses and to estimate their changes for 33‑year period caused by regional climate change. According to data of radio-echo sounding, thickness of the cold ice layer decreased, on average, by 34 m. Numerical modeling shown similar results: the cold ice layer became thinner by 31 m and 39 m at altitudes 100–300 a.s.l. under the snow cover thickness of 1 m and 2 m. We explain this by rising of annual mean air temperature by 0,6 °С as compared to data of the nearest meteorological station Barentsburg in the same period. We believe that changes in cold ice layer thickness in polythermal glaciers can be used for estimation of changes in such regional climatic parameter as mean air temperature at different altitudes of the glacier surface in the ablation area.

scholarly journals The distribution of basal motion beneath a High Arctic polythermal glacier

2003 ◽  
Vol 49 (166) ◽  
pp. 407-414 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Copland ◽  
Martin J. Sharp ◽  
Peter Nienow ◽  
Robert G. Bingham
Keyword(s):  
High Arctic ◽  
Early Summer ◽  
Ellesmere Island ◽  
Surface Velocity ◽  
Ablation Area ◽  
Radio Echo Sounding ◽  
Longitudinal Pattern ◽  
Polythermal Glacier ◽  
Meltwater Chemistry ◽  
Echo Sounding

AbstractThe longitudinal pattern of surface velocity of a large, predominantly cold, polythermal glacier (John Evans Glacier, Ellesmere Island, Canada) was measured over summer and winter periods. In the accumulation and upper ablation areas, where ice is predominantly cold-based, summer velocities were slightly higher than overwinter velocities. Predicted velocities due to ice deformation alone in these areas closely matched these observations in the winter, with limited basal motion likely in the summer. In the lower ablation area, where ice is likely warm-based, measured summer velocities were up to double overwinter velocities. Predicted ice deformation could not account for all of these measured velocities in either summer or winter. This suggests that basal motion occurs throughout the year over at least part of the lower ablation area. This finding is supported by radio-echo sounding, subglacial drainage reconstructions and analyses of early-summer meltwater chemistry, which suggest that subglacial water is present throughout the year in this region. In summer, basal motion may account for up to 75% of the total surface velocity throughout the lower ablation area. The inferred rate of basal motion increases sharply directly below a set of moulins by which most surface meltwater reaches the glacier bed.

scholarly journals Distribution of cold and temperate ice in glaciers on the Nordenskiold Land, Spitsbergen, from ground-based radio-echo sounding

2019 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 149-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu. Ya. Macheret ◽  
A. F. Glazovsky ◽  
I. I. Lavrentiev ◽  
I. O. Marchuk
Keyword(s):  
Water Content ◽  
Volume Fraction ◽  
Lower Layer ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Bottom Layer ◽  
Repeated Measurements ◽  
Relative Power ◽  
Glacier Surface ◽  
Radio Echo Sounding ◽  
Echo Sounding

Data of ground-based radio-echo sounding of 16 glaciers located on the Nordenskiold Land, Spitsbergen, carried out in springs of 1999, 2007 and 2010–2013, allowed defining five glaciers as of the cold thermal type while other eleven ones were polythermal glaciers. In the last ones (polythermal) the average thickness of the upper layer of cold ice and the bottom layer of temperate ice was equal to 11-66 m and 15-96 m, respectively. The ratio of these thicknesses varies from 0.32 to 2.28, and the volume fraction of temperate ice in the total volume of the glaciers varies from 1 to 74% and changes from 0 to 50% in the ablation zone up to 80% in the accumulation zone. Thickness of cold ice was determined by measured delay time of radar reflections from cold-temperate surface (CTS) while thickness of temperate ice was derived as a difference between the total thickness of the glacier and the thickness of its cold ice. For interpretation of radar reflections from CTS we used the noticeable distinction in character of the radar reflections from the upper and lower thicknesses of glacier: absence of internal reflections (excluding reflections from buried crevasses and glacier wells) from upper cold ice layer and a great number of reflections of hyperbolic form from the lower layer related to strong scattering of radio waves by water inclusions in the temperate ice. According to the measurements, relative power of the radar reflections from CTS is by 5,5–14,2 dB smaller than those from the bedrock, that can be considered as an indicator of smaller water content at CTS; so, the repeated measurements of their relative power can be used for estimation of temporal changes in the water content at these boundaries. In layers of the temperate ice, the series of vertical hyperbolic reflections penetrating the cold ice down to CTS and further to the bedrock were detected. Such reflections are related to buried crevasses and/or the glacier wells and can serve as sources of the water permeating during the melt periods from the glacier surface down to CTS and bedrock and, thus, influencing on the ice viscosity and fluidity as well as on velocity of the bottom sliding in the polythermal glaciers. Repeated measurements of relative power of reflections from buried crevasses and wells can also be used to study processes of freezing them through and emptying during the period before start of the surface melting. Relation between volume of temperate ice and area of 16 studied glaciers was used to estimate the probability of existence of polythermal glaciers with a temperate ice core in all 202 glaciers in the Nordenskiold Land. 72 glaciers with areas exceeding 1.79 km2 may be referred to the polythermal type. The probable total volume of temperate ice in these glaciers amounts roughly to 10 km3, and with the 95% confidence it is within the interval from 8 to 33 km3. Almost 80% of the whole temperate ice may be concentrated in only five glaciers with area more than 17 km2, that makes up 2.5% of the total number of glaciers and about 30% of their total area. Data presented in this paper demonstrate more sophisticated pattern of the cold and temperate ice distribution within the glaciers than it was earlier known that should be taken into consideration when modeling and forecasting dynamics of the polythermal glaciers and investigating internal processes of the temperate ice formation in such glaciers.

scholarly journals Characterizing near-surface firn using the scattered signal component of the glacier surface return from airborne radio-echo sounding

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (24) ◽  
pp. 12,502-12,510 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anja Rutishauser ◽  
Cyril Grima ◽  
Martin Sharp ◽  
Donald D. Blankenship ◽  
Duncan A. Young ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Scattered Signal ◽  
Glacier Surface ◽  
Near Surface ◽  
Signal Component ◽  
Radio Echo Sounding ◽  
Echo Sounding

scholarly journals Mapping thermal and hydrological conditions beneath a polythermal glacier with radio-echo sounding

2001 ◽  
Vol 47 (157) ◽  
pp. 232-242 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke Copland ◽  
Martin Sharp
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Structure ◽  
Basal Layer ◽  
Equipotential Surface ◽  
High Arctic ◽  
Hydrological Conditions ◽  
Glacier Terminus ◽  
Radio Echo Sounding ◽  
Pressure Melting ◽  
Polythermal Glacier ◽  
Echo Sounding

AbstractSpatial patterns in residual bed reflection power (BRPr), derived from ground-based radio-echo sounding, were mapped and interpreted in terms of the thermal and hydrological conditions at the base of a high-Arctic polythermal glacier (John Evans Glacier, Ellesmere Island, Canada). BRPr is the residual from a statistical relationship between measured bed reflection power and ice thickness that describes the rate of dielectric loss with depth in the glacier. We identified three types of thermal structure: (a) Positive BRPr and an internal reflecting horizon occur over the glacier terminus. The reflecting horizon is interpreted as the boundary between warm and cold ice, and suggests the presence of a warm basal layer. (b) Positive BRPr occurs without an internal reflector in the upper part of the ablation zone. This suggests that ice is at the pressure-melting point only at the bed. (c) Negative BRPr without an internal reflector occurs in all other regions, suggesting cold ice at the bed. Where BRPr is positive, its pattern is similar to the pattern of subglacial water flow predicted from the form of the subglacial hydraulic equipotential surface. This suggests that hydrological conditions at the glacier bed are a major control on BRPr, probably because the dielectric contrast between ice and water is higher than that between ice and other subglacial materials.

scholarly journals Snow algae in a Himalayan ice core: new environmental markers for ice-core analyses and their correlation with summer mass balance

2006 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 148-153 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoshitaka Yoshimura ◽  
Shiro Kohshima ◽  
Nozomu Takeuchi ◽  
Katsumoto Seko ◽  
Koji Fujita
Keyword(s):  
Mass Balance ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Algal Biomass ◽  
Ice Core ◽  
Algal Growth ◽  
Environmental Indices ◽  
Snow Algae ◽  
Annual Layer ◽  
Cover Thickness

AbstractSnow algae in a shallow ice core (6.98 m long) from Yala glacier in the Langtang region of Nepal were examined for potential use as environmental markers in ice-core analysis. The ice core, taken at 5350m a.s.l. in 1994, was estimated to contain 11 annual layers from 1984 to 1994 from the profile of algal biomass. Algal biomass in each annual layer was noted to be correlated with air temperature, and the following two environmental indices which were calculated from air temperature and precipitation at Kyangjing (3920m a.s.l.), the village nearest to Yala glacier: estimated mean snow-cover thickness (MST) and estimated summer mass balance (SMB). Both parameters reflect snow-cover thickness on algal layers, which would be a major determinant of the light available for algal growth on the glacier. Snow algal biomass in the ice core appears to be a good environmental marker for indicating air temperature and accumulation during summer, which is important for understanding the mass balance of summer-accumulation-type glaciers in this region.

Surface and Bedrock Topography of Ice Caps in Iceland, Mapped by Radio Echo-Sounding

1986 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helgi Björnsson
Keyword(s):  
Surface Elevation ◽  
Ice Thickness ◽  
Volcanic Complex ◽  
Glacier Surface ◽  
Ice Caps ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
North East ◽  
Ice Surface ◽  
Radio Echo Sounding ◽  
Echo Sounding

Since 1977, large areas on western Vatnajökull have been surveyed by ground-based, radio echo-sounding and the whole ice cap, HofsjökuIl, was surveyed in 1983. Detailed maps of the glacier-surface elevation and the sub-ice bedrock have been compiled. The instrumentation includes a 2–5 MHz, mono-pulse echo-sounder, for continuous profiling, a satellite geoceiver and Loran-C equipment, for navigation, and a precision pressure altimeter. The maps of western Vatnajökull cover about 1500 km2 and are compiled from 1500 km-long sounding lines, which yielded about 50 000 data points for ice thickness and 20 000 points for ice-surface elevation. The maps of HofsjökuIl cover 923 km2, the sounding lines were 1350 km long; 42 000 points were used for determining ice thickness and 30 000 for surface elevation. The maps obtained from these data are the first ones of the ice caps with surface elevation of known accuracy. The bedrock map of western Vatnajökull shows details of volcanic ridges and subglacial valleys, running north-east to south-west, as well as the central, volcanic complexes, Hamarinn, Bárdarbunga, and Grimsvtön and the related fissure swarms. The map of Hofsjökull reveals a large volcanic complex, with a 650 m deep caldera. The landforms in southern Hofsjökull are predominantly aligned from north to south, but those in the northern ice cap run north by 25° east.

scholarly journals Influence of debris cover and altitude on glacier surface melting: a case study on Dokriani Glacier, central Himalaya, India

2015 ◽  
Vol 56 (70) ◽  
pp. 9-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bhanu Pratap ◽  
D.P. Dobhal ◽  
Manish Mehta ◽  
Rakesh Bhambri
Keyword(s):  
Ablation Rate ◽  
Surface Melting ◽  
Ice Melting ◽  
Glacier Surface ◽  
Ablation Area ◽  
Himalayan Glaciers ◽  
Debris Cover ◽  
Cover Thickness ◽  
Glacier Ablation

AbstractMost of the central Himalayan glaciers have surface debris layers of variable thickness, which greatly affect the ablation rate. An attempt has been made to relate debris-cover thickness to glacier surface melting. Thirty stakes were used to calculate ablation for debris-covered and clean ice of Dokriani Glacier (7 km2) from 2009/10 to 2012/13. Our study revealed significant altitude-wise difference in the rate of clean and debris-covered ice melting. We found a high correlation (R2 = 0.92) between mean annual clean-ice ablation and altitude, and a very low correlation (R2 = 0.14) between debris-covered ice melting and altitude. Debris-covered ice ablation varies with variation in debris thickness from 1 to 40 cm; ablation was maximum under debris thicknesses of 1–6 cm and minimum under 40 cm. Even a small debris-cover thickness (1–2 cm) reduces ice melting as compared to that of clean ice on an annual basis. Overall, debris-covered ice ablation during the study period was observed to be 37% less than clean-ice ablation. Strong downwasting was also observed in the Dokriani Glacier ablation area, with average annual ablation of 1.82 m w.e. a–1 in a similar period. Our study suggests that a thinning glacier rapidly becomes debris-covered over the ablation area, reducing the rate of ice loss.

scholarly journals Verification of boundary conditions of numerical modeling of the track substructure thermal regime – influence of the snow cover

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (48) ◽  
pp. 51-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Libor IŽVOLT ◽  
Peter DOBEŠ ◽  
Juraj PIEŠ
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Modeling ◽  
Boundary Conditions ◽  
Snow Cover ◽  
Air Temperature ◽  
Protective Layer ◽  
Railway Track ◽  
Experimental Stand ◽  
Crushed Aggregate ◽  
Railway Engineering ◽  
Track Substructure

The initial part of the paper briefly characterizes a long-term experimental activity at the Department of Railway Engineering and Track Management (DRETM). The research of the DRETM focuses, besides other research activities and specific problems in the field of railway engineering (application of new structures and construction materials in conventional and modernized railway tracks, modernisation and rehabilitation of existing railway tracks for higher speeds, track diagnostics, influence of track operation on noise emissions and design of structural measures, possibility of application of recycled ballast bed material in the track substructure, ballast recycling technologies, ecological assessment of recycled material of the track substructure), on various factors affecting track substructure freezing. In 2012-2017, in the campus of the University of Žilina (UNIZA), an Experimental stand DRETM was built for the research purposes. The experimental stand DRETM consists of 6 types of track substructure placed in an embankment or a cut, in the 1:1 scale. Besides conventional building materials (crushed aggregate), these structures also include various thermal insulation materials (Liapor concrete, Styrodur, foam concrete). A significant part of the paper deals with numerical modeling of the freezing process of track substructure (an embankment with the embedded protective layer of crushed aggregate, fr. 0/31.5 mm) for various boundary conditions (air frost index, average annual air temperature), using SoilVision software. The aim of this research is to identify the thermal insulation effects of different thicknesses of snow cover on the depth of penetration of the zero isotherm into the track substructure (railway track). The paper conclusion specifies the influence of different snow cover thicknesses, or nf factor (factor expressing the dependency between the mean daily air temperature and the temperature on the ballast bed surface) and various climatic conditions (frost indexes and average annual air temperatures), affecting the railway infrastructure, on the resulting depth of freezing of the track substructure (railway track). These outputs will be in the further research used for the design of nomogram for determining the thickness of the protective layer of the frost-susceptible subgrade surface of the track substructure.

scholarly journals Surface and Bedrock Topography of Ice Caps in Iceland, Mapped by Radio Echo-Sounding

1986 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helgi Björnsson
Keyword(s):  
Surface Elevation ◽  
Ice Thickness ◽  
Volcanic Complex ◽  
Glacier Surface ◽  
Ice Caps ◽  
Ice Cap ◽  
North East ◽  
Ice Surface ◽  
Radio Echo Sounding ◽  
Echo Sounding

Since 1977, large areas on western Vatnajökull have been surveyed by ground-based, radio echo-sounding and the whole ice cap, HofsjökuIl, was surveyed in 1983. Detailed maps of the glacier-surface elevation and the sub-ice bedrock have been compiled. The instrumentation includes a 2–5 MHz, mono-pulse echo-sounder, for continuous profiling, a satellite geoceiver and Loran-C equipment, for navigation, and a precision pressure altimeter. The maps of western Vatnajökull cover about 1500 km2 and are compiled from 1500 km-long sounding lines, which yielded about 50 000 data points for ice thickness and 20 000 points for ice-surface elevation. The maps of HofsjökuIl cover 923 km2, the sounding lines were 1350 km long; 42 000 points were used for determining ice thickness and 30 000 for surface elevation. The maps obtained from these data are the first ones of the ice caps with surface elevation of known accuracy. The bedrock map of western Vatnajökull shows details of volcanic ridges and subglacial valleys, running north-east to south-west, as well as the central, volcanic complexes, Hamarinn, Bárdarbunga, and Grimsvtön and the related fissure swarms. The map of Hofsjökull reveals a large volcanic complex, with a 650 m deep caldera. The landforms in southern Hofsjökull are predominantly aligned from north to south, but those in the northern ice cap run north by 25° east.

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