Geophysical constraints on the properties of a subglacial lake in
northwest Greenland
Abstract. We report the first ground-based observations of a subglacial lake in Greenland, confirming previous work base on airborne radar data. Here, we perform an active source seismology and ground penetrating radar survey in northwest Greenland where Palmer et al. (2013) first proposed the presence of a subglacial lake. From reflections of both the lake top and lake bottom, we observe a subglacial lake underlying approximately 845 m of ice, and constrain its depth to be between 10–15 m. Additionally, using previously reported estimates of the lake's lateral extent, we estimate the total volume of liquid water to be 0.15 km3 (0.15 Gt of water). Thermal and hydropotential modeling both suggest that the lake should not exist unless it either sits over a localized geothermal flux high or has high salinity due to significant evaporite source in the bedrock. Our study indicates that this field site in northwestern Greenland is a good candidate for future investigations aimed at understanding lake properties and origins or for direct lake sampling via drilling.
