scholarly journals Modelling of Kealey Ice Rise, Antarctica, reveals stable ice-flow conditions in East Ellsworth Land over millennia

2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (219) ◽  
pp. 139-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Martín ◽  
G. Hilmar Gudmundsson ◽  
Edward C. King

AbstractFlow at ice divides, their shape, size and internal structure depend not only on local conditions, but also on the flow regimes and past histories of the surrounding ice masses. Here we use field data from Kealey Ice Rise, Ellsworth Land, West Antarctica, in combination with flow modelling to investigate any possible signs of transients in the flow of the surrounding ice masses. Kealey Ice Rise shows linear surface features running parallel to its ridge in satellite imagery and a conspicuous layering in the ground-penetrating radar data known as double-peaked Raymond bumps. Through numerical modelling, by using an anisotropic full-Stokes thermomechanical flow solver, we analyse the evolution of Kealey Ice Rise and the timescales involved. We conclude that the features observed in the stratigraphy of Kealey Ice Rise require at least 3 ka of near-stationary flow conditions. However, we cannot exclude the possibility of a recent flow reorganization in the last century. We stress that the signs of stationary flow in radar stratigraphy observed in Kealey Ice Rise have been observed in other ice divides in the East Ellsworth Land area, suggesting stationary flow conditions over a millennial timescale in the region.

2019 ◽  
Vol 60 (80) ◽  
pp. 91-99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kiya L. Riverman ◽  
Sridhar Anandakrishnan ◽  
Richard B. Alley ◽  
Nicholas Holschuh ◽  
Christine F. Dow ◽  
...  

AbstractWe describe elongate, wet, subglacial bedforms in the shear margins of the NE Greenland Ice Stream and place some constraints on their formation. Lateral shear margin moraines have been observed across the previously glaciated landscape, but little is known about the ice-flow conditions necessary to form these bedforms. Here we describe in situ sediment bedforms under the NE Greenland Ice Stream shear margins that are observed in active-source seismic and ground-penetrating radar surveys. We find bedforms in the shear margins that are ~500 m wide, ~50 m tall, and elongated nearly parallel to ice-flow, including what we believe to be the first subglacial observation of a shear margin moraine. Acoustic impedance analysis of the bedforms shows that they are composed of unconsolidated, deformable, water-saturated till. We use these geophysical observations to place constraints on the possible formation mechanism of these subglacial features.


PIERS Online ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (6) ◽  
pp. 567-572
Author(s):  
Hui Zhou ◽  
Dongling Qiu ◽  
Takashi Takenaka

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Melchior Grab ◽  
Enrico Mattea ◽  
Andreas Bauder ◽  
Matthias Huss ◽  
Lasse Rabenstein ◽  
...  

Abstract Accurate knowledge of the ice thickness distribution and glacier bed topography is essential for predicting dynamic glacier changes and the future developments of downstream hydrology, which are impacting the energy sector, tourism industry and natural hazard management. Using AIR-ETH, a new helicopter-borne ground-penetrating radar (GPR) platform, we measured the ice thickness of all large and most medium-sized glaciers in the Swiss Alps during the years 2016–20. Most of these had either never or only partially been surveyed before. With this new dataset, 251 glaciers – making up 81% of the glacierized area – are now covered by GPR surveys. For obtaining a comprehensive estimate of the overall glacier ice volume, ice thickness distribution and glacier bed topography, we combined this large amount of data with two independent modeling algorithms. This resulted in new maps of the glacier bed topography with unprecedented accuracy. The total glacier volume in the Swiss Alps was determined to be 58.7 ± 2.5 km3 in the year 2016. By projecting these results based on mass-balance data, we estimated a total ice volume of 52.9 ± 2.7 km3 for the year 2020. Data and modeling results are accessible in the form of the SwissGlacierThickness-R2020 data package.


Geophysics ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 81 (1) ◽  
pp. WA21-WA34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven A. Arcone ◽  
James H. Lever ◽  
Laura E. Ray ◽  
Benjamin S. Walker ◽  
Gordon Hamilton ◽  
...  

The crevassed firn of the McMurdo shear zone (SZ) within the Ross Ice Shelf may also contain crevasses deep within its meteoric and marine ice, but the surface crevassing prevents ordinary vehicle access to investigate its structure geophysically. We used a lightweight robotic vehicle to tow 200- and 400-MHz ground-penetrating radar antennas simultaneously along 100 parallel transects over a [Formula: see text] grid spanning the SZ width. Transects were generally orthogonal to the ice flow. Total firn and meteoric ice thickness was approximately 160 m. Firn crevasses profiled at 400 MHz were up to 16 m wide, under snow bridges up to 10 m thick, and with strikes near 35°–40° to the transect direction. From the top down, 200-MHz profiles revealed firn diffractions originating to a depth of approximately 40 m, no discernible structure within the meteoric ice, a discontinuous transitional horizon, and at least 20 m of stratified marine ice; 28–31 m of freeboard found more marine ice exists. Based on 10 consecutive transects covering approximately [Formula: see text], we preliminarily interpreted the transitional horizon to be a thin saline layer, and marine ice hyperbolic diffractions and reflections to be responses to localized fractures, and crevasses filled with unstratified marine ice, all at strikes from 27° to 50°. We preliminarily interpreted off-nadir, marine ice horizons to be responses to linear and folded faults, similar to some in firn. The coinciding and synchronously folded areas of fractured firn and marine ice suggested that the visibly unstructured meteoric ice beneath our grid was also fractured, but either never crevassed, crevassed and sutured without marine ice inclusions, or that any ice containing crevasses might have eroded before marine ice accretion. We will test these interpretations with analysis of all transects and by extending our grid and increasing our depth ranges.


Data in Brief ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 1588-1593 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ted L Gragson ◽  
Victor D. Thompson ◽  
David S. Leigh ◽  
Florent Hautefeuille

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