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Observations of Buried Lake Drainage on the Antarctic Ice Sheet

Journal Article (2020)
Author(s)

D. Dunmire (University of Colorado - Boulder)

J.T.M. Lenaerts (University of Colorado - Boulder)

Alison Banwell (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Cambridge)

N. Wever (University of Colorado - Boulder)

J. Shragge (Colorado School of Mines)

S. Lhermitte (TU Delft - Civil Engineering & Geosciences)

R. Drews (Universität Tübingen)

F. Pattyn (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)

J.S.S. Hansen (University of Colorado - Boulder, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)

I.C. Willis (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Cambridge)

J. Miller (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)

E. Keenan (University of Colorado - Boulder)

Research Group
Mathematical Geodesy and Positioning
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL087970 Final published version
More Info
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Publication Year
2020
Language
English
Research Group
Mathematical Geodesy and Positioning
Issue number
15
Volume number
47
Article number
e2020GL087970
Pages (from-to)
1-9
Downloads counter
342
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Abstract

Between 1992 and 2017, the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS) lost ice equivalent to 7.6 ± 3.9 mm of sea level rise. AIS mass loss is mitigated by ice shelves that provide a buttress by regulating ice flow from tributary glaciers. However, ice-shelf stability is threatened by meltwater ponding, which may initiate, or reactivate preexisting, fractures, currently poorly understood processes. Here, through ground penetrating radar (GPR) analysis over a buried lake in the grounding zone of an East Antarctic ice shelf, we present the first field observations of a lake drainage event in Antarctica via vertical fractures. Concurrent with the lake drainage event, we observe a decrease in surface elevation and an increase in Sentinel-1 backscatter. Finally, we suggest that fractures that are initiated or reactivated by lake drainage events in a grounding zone will propagate with ice flow onto the ice shelf itself, where they may have implications for its stability.