Basal freeze-on generates complex ice-sheet stratigraphy

Leysinger Vieli, GJ-MC; Martin, Carlos ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2661-169X; Hindmarsh, Richard ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1633-2416; Lüthi, MP. 2018 Basal freeze-on generates complex ice-sheet stratigraphy. Nature Communications, 9 (4669). 13, pp. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07083-3

Before downloading, please read NORA policies.

Preview

Text (Open Access)
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit ttp://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/. © The Author(s) 2018
10.1038_s41467-018-07083-3.pdf - Published Version
Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial 4.0.
Download (7MB) | Preview

Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07083-3

Abstract/Summary

Large, plume-like internal ice-layer-structures have been observed in radar images from both Antarctica and Greenland, rising from the ice-sheet base to up to half of the ice thickness. Their origins are not yet understood. Here, we simulate their genesis by basal freeze-on using numerical ice-flow modelling and analyse the transient evolution of the emerging ice-plume and the surrounding ice-layer structure as a function of both freeze-on rate and ice flux. We find good agreement between radar observations, modelled ice-plume geometry and internal layer structure, and further show that plume height relates primarily to ice-flux and only secondarily to freeze-on. An in-depth analysis, performed for Northern Greenland of observed spatial plume distribution related to ice flow, basal topography and water availability supports our findings regarding ice flux and suggests freeze-on is controlled by ascending subglacial water flow. Our results imply that widespread basal freeze-on strongly affects ice stratigraphy and consequently ice-core interpretations.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07083-3
ISSN:	20411723
Date made live:	07 Nov 2018 16:02 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/521446

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-07083-3

ISSN:

20411723

Date made live:

07 Nov 2018 16:02 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/521446