scholarly journals Ice motion over Lake Vostok, Antarctica: constraints on inferences regarding the accreted ice

2000 ◽  
Vol 46 (155) ◽  
pp. 689-694 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Kwok ◽  
M.J. Siegert ◽  
F. D. Carsey

AbstractIce motion over Lake Vostok, Antarctica, is measured using repeat-pass synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) interferometry. The coverage of the lake and the components of the vector field are resolved using 10 overlapping data takes from ascending and descending look directions. Seventy-day temporal baselines provide the sensitivity required to observe the range of ice motion (0–6 m a−1) over the lake and the adjacent ice sheet. It is remarkable that the scattering field remained coherent over these time separations. This is critical for interferometric analysis and can be attributed to the low surface accumulation and low air temperature at this elevation. The regional flow of the ice sheet around Lake Vostok is from west to east, perpendicular to the surface elevation contours. As the ice flows past the grounding line, a southward component of motion develops that is correlated with the north–south surface slope along the length of the lake. The surface velocity increases slowly from the northern tip of the lake and then more rapidly south of 77° S. At Vostok station, the ice motion is 4.2 m a−1. Across the lake and away from boundary effects, the down-lake flow pattern takes on a parabolic profile with maximum velocity close to the center line of the lake. The overall influence of the subglacial lake is the addition of a down-lake motion component to the prevailing west–east motion of the ice sheet. As a result, we estimate 10% of the mass flowing onto the lake is diverted south. Reconstructions based on the Vostok ice core indicate that the ice was grounded up-glacier from the core site approximately 5000 years ago. This suggests a minimum freezing rate of 40 mm a−1 for the subglacial accretion ice, 10 times greater than that inferred from thermodynamic modeling of the upper 2 km of the ice core.

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 2466 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nela ◽  
Bandyopadhyay ◽  
Singh ◽  
Glazovsky ◽  
Lavrentiev ◽  
...  

Glacier velocity is one of the most important parameters to understand glacier dynamics. The Severnaya Zemlya archipelago is host to many glaciers of which four major ice caps encompassing these glaciers are studied, namely, Academy of Sciences, Rusanov, Karpinsky, and University. In this study, we adopted the differential interferometric synthetic aperture radar (DInSAR) method utilizing ALOS-2/PALSAR-2 datasets, with a temporal resolution of 14 days. The observed maximum velocity for one of the marine-terminating glaciers in the Academy of Sciences Ice Cap was 72.24 cm/day (≈263 m/a). For the same glacier, an increment of 3.75 times the flow rate was observed in 23 years, compared to a previous study. This has been attributed to deformation in the bed topography of the glacier. Glaciers in other ice caps showed a comparatively lower surface velocity, ranging from 7.43 to 32.12 cm/day. For estimating the error value in velocity, we selected three ice-free regions and calculated the average value of their observed movement rates by considering the fact that there is zero movement for ice-free areas. The average value observed for the ice-free area was 0.09 cm/day, and we added this value in our uncertainty analysis. Further, it was observed that marine-terminating glaciers have a higher velocity than land-terminating glaciers. Such important observations were identified in this research, which are expected to facilitate future glacier velocity studies.


Author(s):  
S. Xiong ◽  
J.-P. Muller

Accumulation of snow and ice over time result in ice sheet layers. These can be remotely sensed where there is a contrast in electromagnetic properties, which reflect variations of the ice density, acidity and fabric orientation. Internal ice layers are assumed to be isochronous, deep beneath the ice surface, and parallel to the direction of ice flow. The distribution of internal layers is related to ice sheet dynamics, such as the basal melt rate, basal elevation variation and changes in ice flow mode, which are important parameters to model the ice sheet. Radar echo sounder is an effective instrument used to study the sedimentology of the Earth and planets. Ice Penetrating Radar (IPR) is specific kind of radar echo sounder, which extends studies of ice sheets from surface to subsurface to deep internal ice sheets depending on the frequency utilised. In this study, we examine a study site where folded ice occurs in the internal ice sheet south of the North Greenland Eemian ice drilling (NEEM) station, where two intersected radar echograms acquired by the Multi-channel Coherent Radar Depth Sounder (MCoRDS) employed in the NASA’s Operation IceBridge (OIB) mission imaged this folded ice. We propose a slice processing flow based on a Radon Transform to trace and extract these two sets of curved ice sheet layers, which can then be viewed in 3-D, demonstrating the 3-D structure of the ice folds.


2002 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 521-526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine Schøtt Hvidberg ◽  
Kristian Keller ◽  
Niels S. Gundestrup

AbstractThe North Greenland Icecore Project (NorthGRIP) deep drilling site (75˚05’47’’N, 42˚19’42’’ W) is located at the north-northwest ridge of the Greenland ice sheet, 320 km from Summit. A strain net has been established around the NorthGRIP site and surveyed with global positioning system. Our results show that ice flows with a horizontal surface velocity of 1.329 ±0.015ma–1 along the ridge. Estimated principal surface strain rates at NorthGRIP are and in the directions along and transverse to the north-northwest ridge, respectively, i.e. ice is compressed along the ridge but stretched transverse to the ridge. Possible implications of the observed flow pattern for the stratigraphy are discussed. the average thickening rate in the strain-net area is found to be ∂H/∂t = 0.00 ±0.04ma– 1, in agreement with previous estimates of mass balance in high-elevation areas of Greenland.


2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 1209-1227 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. J. Peavoy ◽  
C. Franzke

Abstract. We present statistical methods to systematically determine climate regimes for the last glacial period using three temperature proxy records from Greenland: measurements of δ18O from the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2), the Greenland Ice Core Project (GRIP) and the North Greenland Ice Core Project (NGRIP). By using Bayesian model comparison methods we find that, in two out of three data sets, a model with 3 states is very strongly supported. We interpret these states as corresponding to: a gradual cooling regime due to iceberg influx in the North Atlantic, sudden temperature decrease due to increased freshwater influx following ice sheet collapse and to the Dansgaard-Oeschger events associated with sudden rebound temperature increase after the thermohaline circulation recovers its full flux. We find that these models are far superior to those that differentiate between states based on absolute temperature differences only, which questions the appropriateness of defining stadial and interstadial climate states. We investigate the recurrence properties of these climate regimes and find that the only significant periodicity is within the Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 data at 1450 years in agreement with previous studies.


2006 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 344-358 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Hanna ◽  
Joe McConnell ◽  
Sarah Das ◽  
John Cappelen ◽  
Ag Stephens

Abstract Annual and monthly snow accumulation for the Greenland Ice Sheet was derived from ECMWF forecasts [mainly 40-yr ECMWR Re-Analysis (ERA-40)] and further meteorological modeling. Modeled accumulation was validated using 58 ice core accumulation datasets across the ice sheet and was found to be 95% of the observed accumulation on average, with a mean correlation of 0.53 between modeled and observed. Many of the ice core datasets are new and are presented here for the first time. Central and northern interior parts of the ice sheet were found to be ∼10%–30% too dry in ERA-40, in line with earlier ECMWF analysis, although too much (>50% locally) snow accumulation was modeled for interior southern parts of Greenland. Nevertheless, 47 of 58 sites show significant correlation in temporal variability of modeled with observed accumulation. The model also captures the absolute amount of snow accumulation at several sites, most notably Das1 and Das2 in southeast Greenland. Mean modeled accumulation over the ice sheet was 0.279 (standard deviation 0.034) m yr−1 for 1958–2003 with no significant trend for either the ice sheet or any of the core sites. Unusually high accumulation in southeast Greenland in 2002/03 leads the authors to study meteorological synoptic forcing patterns and comment on the prospect of enhanced climate variability leading to more such events as a result of global warming. There is good agreement between precipitation measured at coastal meteorological stations in southern Greenland and accumulation modeled for adjacent regions of the ice sheet. There is no significant persistent relation between the North Atlantic Oscillation index and whole or southern Greenland accumulation.


Author(s):  
S. Xiong ◽  
J.-P. Muller

Accumulation of snow and ice over time result in ice sheet layers. These can be remotely sensed where there is a contrast in electromagnetic properties, which reflect variations of the ice density, acidity and fabric orientation. Internal ice layers are assumed to be isochronous, deep beneath the ice surface, and parallel to the direction of ice flow. The distribution of internal layers is related to ice sheet dynamics, such as the basal melt rate, basal elevation variation and changes in ice flow mode, which are important parameters to model the ice sheet. Radar echo sounder is an effective instrument used to study the sedimentology of the Earth and planets. Ice Penetrating Radar (IPR) is specific kind of radar echo sounder, which extends studies of ice sheets from surface to subsurface to deep internal ice sheets depending on the frequency utilised. In this study, we examine a study site where folded ice occurs in the internal ice sheet south of the North Greenland Eemian ice drilling (NEEM) station, where two intersected radar echograms acquired by the Multi-channel Coherent Radar Depth Sounder (MCoRDS) employed in the NASA’s Operation IceBridge (OIB) mission imaged this folded ice. We propose a slice processing flow based on a Radon Transform to trace and extract these two sets of curved ice sheet layers, which can then be viewed in 3-D, demonstrating the 3-D structure of the ice folds.


2002 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 1-4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorthe Dahl-Jensen ◽  
Niels S. Gundestrup ◽  
Heinz Miller ◽  
Okitsugu Watanabe ◽  
Sigfús J. Johnsen ◽  
...  

AbstractThe North Greenland Icecore Project (NorthGRIP) was initiated in 1995 as a joint international programme involving Denmark, Germany, Japan, Belgium, Sweden, Iceland, the U.S.A., France and Switzerland. the main goal was to obtain undisturbed high-resolution information about the Eemian climatic period (115–130 kyr BP). the records from the Greenland Icecore Project (GRIP) and Greenland Ice Sheet Project 2 (GISP2) in central Greenland are different and disturbed down in the ice covering this period. Internal radio-echo sounding layers show that NorthGRIP, placed 325 km north-northwest of GRIP at the Summit of the Greenland ice sheet, is located on a gently sloping ice ridge with very flat bedrock and internal layers found so high that an undisturbed Eemian record is possible. Internal layers much farther above bedrock than their apparent counter parts at GRIP suggest that conditions are favourable for recovery of an undisturbed Eemian record. So far, a 1351 mdeep ice core (NorthGRIP1) and a 3001 mdeep ice core (NorthGRIP 2) have been recovered. the ice thickness is expected to be 3080 m, and the ice temperature at 3001 m is –5.6°C, so we expect basal melting at the bedrock. Most of the Eemian ice will be melted away, leaving only the last part and the transition between the Eem and the Last Glacial Period. At 3001 m the age of the ice is 110 kyr BP and the annual layers are of the order 1 cm.With modern methods the annual layers can be resolved, resulting in detailed information on the decline of the warm Eemian period into the Last Glacial Period.


Geophysics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. WA111-WA118 ◽  
Author(s):  
José A. Vélez ◽  
Georgios P. Tsoflias ◽  
Ross A. Black ◽  
Cornelis J. Van der Veen ◽  
Sridhar Anandakrishnan

Preferred crystal orientation fabrics (COFs) within an ice sheet or glacier are typically found from ice cores. We conducted experiments at the North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) facility ice core location, where COF data were available at Jakobshavn Isbræ west Greenland, to test if COF can be determined seismically. We used observations of anisotropic seismic wave propagation on multioffset gathers and englacial imaging from a 2D reflection profile. Anisotropy analysis of the NEEM data yielded mean c-axes distributed over a conical region of 30° to 32° from vertical. No internal ice seismic reflectors were imaged. Direct COF measurements collected in the ice core agreed with the seismic observations. At Jakobshavn Isbræ, we used a multioffset gather and a 2D reflection profile, but we lacked ice core data. Englacial reflectors allowed the determination of ice column interval properties. Anisotropy analysis found that the upper 1640 m of the ice column consisted of cold ([Formula: see text]) and mostly isotropic ice with c-axes distributed over a conical region of 80° from vertical. The lower 300 m of the ice column was characterized by warm ([Formula: see text]) ice with COF. These observations were consistent with complex ice fabric development and temperature estimations over the same region of Jakobshavn Isbræ. This study demonstrated that the ice sheet and glacier ice anisotropy information can be gained from seismic field observations.


2004 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara Delmonte ◽  
Jean R. Petit ◽  
Isabelle Basile-Doelsch ◽  
Vladimir Lipenkov ◽  
Valter Maggi

Environmental Context.Lake Vostok is a large subglacial lake trapped below the East Antarctic ice sheet. The meteoric ice from deep Vostok ice cores has been used to document the climatic history of the Earth over hundreds of millennia, while the deeper part of the core preserves some basal rock fragments. These rock fragments represent unique geological samples of the inhospitable, ice-covered East Antarctic Plateau. Abstract.The Vostok (East Antarctica, 78°S, 106°E) ice core preserves, below the meteoric ice keeping the climatic memory of the last 420 000 years, ice formed by freezing of subglacial Lake Vostok water. This latter contains some bedrock fragments representing unique samples for the geological investigation of the East Antarctic Plateau, covered by ~2–4 km of ice. The first geochemical (87Sr/86Sr versus 143Nd/144Nd) and mineralogical characterization of these inclusions as well as the dating of one of them (Nd model age on whole-rock sample) has given evidence for a Mid-Proterozoic age of the basement lying below the ice sheet, consistent with recent geophysical data. The geochemical characteristics of bedrock inclusions within the accreted ice zone are markedly different from those of the mineral dust of aeolian origin archived in the uppermost part of the Vostok ice core and originating from deflation of the Southern Hemisphere continents, and easily discriminates between the two contributions.


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