Vertical Structure of Diurnal Englacial Hydrology Cycle at Helheim Glacier, East Greenland

Vaňková, Irena; Voytenko, Denis; Nicholls, Keith W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2188-4509; Xie, Surui; Parizek, Byron R.; Holland, David M.. 2018 Vertical Structure of Diurnal Englacial Hydrology Cycle at Helheim Glacier, East Greenland. Geophysical Research Letters, 45 (16). 8352-8362. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077869

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Official URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077869

Abstract/Summary

The interior dynamics of Helheim Glacier were monitored using an autonomous phase‐sensitive radio‐echo sounder (ApRES) during two consecutive summers. The return signals from all observational sites exhibited strong non‐tidal, depth‐dependent diurnal variations. We show that these variations in the glacier interior can be explained by an englacial diurnal meltwater cycle: a data interpretation that assumes constant ice‐column composition through time leads to dynamical inconsistencies with concurrent observations from GPS and terrestrial radar. The observed diurnal meltwater cycle is spatially variable, both between different sites and in the vertical, consistent with the existence of a dense and complex englacial hydrologic network. Future applications of this observational technique could reveal long‐term meltwater behavior inside glaciers and ice sheets, leading to an improved understanding of the spatiotemporal evolution of the basal boundary conditions needed to simulate them realistically.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077869
ISSN:	00948276
Additional Keywords:	englacial hydrology, Helheim Glacier, ApRES, glacier dynamics, diurnal cycle, meltwater
Date made live:	11 Oct 2018 11:10 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/521170

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL077869

ISSN:

00948276

Additional Keywords:

englacial hydrology, Helheim Glacier, ApRES, glacier dynamics, diurnal cycle, meltwater

Date made live:

11 Oct 2018 11:10 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/521170