Law, R, Christoffersen, P, Hubbard, B et al. (9 more authors) (2021) Thermodynamics of a fast-moving Greenlandic outlet glacier revealed by fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing. Science Advances, 7 (20). eabe7136. ISSN 2375-2548
Abstract
Measurements of ice temperature provide crucial constraints on ice viscosity and the thermodynamic processes occurring within a glacier. However, such measurements are presently limited by a small number of relatively coarse-spatial-resolution borehole records, especially for ice sheets. Here, we advance our understanding of glacier thermodynamics with an exceptionally high-vertical-resolution (~0.65 m), distributed-fiber-optic temperature-sensing profile from a 1043-m borehole drilled to the base of Sermeq Kujalleq (Store Glacier), Greenland. We report substantial but isolated strain heating within interglacial-phase ice at 208 to 242 m depth together with strongly heterogeneous ice deformation in glacial-phase ice below 889 m. We also observe a high-strain interface between glacial- and interglacial-phase ice and a 73-m-thick temperate basal layer, interpreted as locally formed and important for the glacier’s fast motion. These findings demonstrate notable spatial heterogeneity, both vertically and at the catchment scale, in the conditions facilitating the fast motion of marine-terminating glaciers in Greenland.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2021 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC). https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial license, which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, so long as the resultant use is not for commercial advantage and provided the original work is properly cited. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Leeds |
Academic Units: | The University of Leeds > Faculty of Environment (Leeds) > School of Earth and Environment (Leeds) > Institute for Applied Geosciences (IAG) (Leeds) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Publications |
Date Deposited: | 20 May 2021 11:49 |
Last Modified: | 25 Jun 2023 22:39 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) |
Identification Number: | 10.1126/sciadv.abe7136 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:174201 |