Article
Environmental Sciences
Yi Fan, Weifeng Hao, Baojun Zhang, Chao Ma, Shengjun Gao, Xiao Shen, Fei Li
Summary: Monitoring the hydrological activities of subglacial lakes is crucial for understanding the subglacial hydrological system and evaluating the changes in the Antarctic ice sheet. Satellite altimetry is used to observe the elevation changes caused by drainage or filling events. This study analyzed data from CryoSat-2 and ICESat-2 to obtain the time series of ice surface elevation changes for 17 active lakes. The results showed that there were periodic hydrological activities in certain lakes, and the uncertainties were higher for lakes with rough ice surfaces. The study also inferred the hydrological connections between the lakes using simulated water pathways.
Article
Geography, Physical
Jianguang Shi, Shengmiao Huang, Binyan Wang, Chong Li, Shilin Peng, Youhong Sun, Pavel Talalay, Haibin Yu
Summary: Monitoring cable tension is crucial in ice drill and deepwater applications. This paper introduces two newly designed deepwater tension sensor editions, with the second edition demonstrating improved performance and accuracy through a series of experiments.
ANNALS OF GLACIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Louis-Alexandre Couston, Martin Siegert
Summary: Physical conditions within subglacial lakes in Antarctica are crucial for evaluating microbial life, with Earth's geothermal flux providing efficient mixing support. Most lakes exhibit vigorous turbulent vertical convection, aiding suspension of particulates, and enabling nutrient and oxygen distribution. Caution is needed when using accreted ice analysis as a proxy for water sampling in lakes beneath a thin ice cover.
Article
Geography, Physical
Keith Makinson, Daniel Ashurst, Paul G. D. Anker, James A. Smith, Dominic A. Hodgson, Peter E. D. Davis, Andrew M. Smith
Summary: Subglacial sediments can provide insights into glacier flow, ice-sheet history, and life in those environments. To address the challenges of retrieving sediments from beneath the ice, British Antarctic Survey and UWITEC developed a new auto-release-recovery percussion hammer mechanism, which makes coring operations depth-independent and improves efficiency.
ANNALS OF GLACIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Geography, Physical
Sean Fitzsimons, Martin Sharp, Reginald Lorrain
Summary: This study investigates the subglacial deformation beneath a cold-based glacier resting on permafrost in Antarctica. The researchers used a tunnel to observe the structure of the basal zone and bed of the glacier and found that ice-rich permafrost can be readily deformed by glaciers, with no clear boundary between basal ice and deforming permafrost.
Article
Oceanography
Daniel N. Goldberg, Andrew G. Twelves, Paul R. Holland, Martin G. Wearing
Summary: Little is known about Antarctic subglacial hydrology, but it is believed that subglacial runoff enhances submarine melt locally through buoyancy effects. This study examines the effects of runoff on sea ice and oceanography on the Continental Shelf, and finds that runoff enhances localized melt and reduces summer sea ice volume. Runoff-driven melt and circulation may be an important missing process in regional Antarctic ocean models.
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-OCEANS
(2023)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Benjamin H. Hills, Knut Christianson, Andrew O. Hoffman, T. J. Fudge, Nicholas Holschuh, Emma C. Kahle, Howard Conway, John E. Christian, Annika N. Horlings, Gemma K. O'Connor, Eric J. Steig
Summary: Geophysical exploration of a subglacial lake near the South Pole suggests that it has been thermodynamically stable for at least the last 120,000 years, making it a promising site for sediment coring.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Geography, Physical
Pavel Talalay, Xingchen Li, Nan Zhang, Xiaopeng Fan, Youhong Sun, Pinlu Cao, Rusheng Wang, Yang Yang, Yongwen Liu, Yunchen Liu, Wei Wu, Cheng Yang, Jialin Hong, Da Gong, Han Zhang, Xiao Li, Yunwang Chen, An Liu, Yazhou Li
Summary: A modified version of the IBED drill was designed for drilling in various geological conditions, successfully tested indoors and outdoors before field testing in East Antarctica, where a 6cm bedrock core was recovered from a 198m deep borehole, providing valuable information on Earth's paleo-environment.
ANNALS OF GLACIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Geography, Physical
Pavel Talalay, Youhong Sun, Xiaopeng Fan, Nan Zhang, Pinlu Cao, Rusheng Wang, Alexey Markov, Xingchen Li, Yang Yang, Mikhail Sysoev, Yongwen Liu, Yunchen Liu, Wei Wu, Da Gong
Summary: Drilling to the bedrock of ice sheets and glaciers provides unique opportunities for collecting paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental records, as well as studying sediment deformation beneath glaciers. The new Antarctic subglacial drilling rig (ASDR) has been successfully developed and tested to recover ice and bedrock core samples from depths of up to 1400 m, with the ability to be transported and set up for drilling operations within a few days.
ANNALS OF GLACIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Adrien Gilbert, Florent Gimbert, Kjetil Thogersen, Thomas Schuler, Andreas Kaab
Summary: Below hard-bedded glaciers, both basal friction and distributed subglacial drainage are controlled by a network of cavities. Previous models had a physical inconsistency issue, but our coupling approach provides a better explanation for the observed glacier sliding speed.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Geochemistry & Geophysics
David M. Chandler, Jemma L. Wadham, Peter W. Nienow, Samuel H. Doyle, Andrew J. Tedstone, Jon Telling, Jonathan Hawkings, Jonathan D. Alcock, Benjamin Linhoff, Alun Hubbard
Summary: Intensive study of the Greenland Ice Sheet's subglacial drainage has shown efficient drainage development under thick ice, with this research providing valuable data to validate and improve current numerical drainage system models. The study revealed a fast/efficient subglacial drainage system extending under ice over 900m thick, which remained stable even under variable melt inputs. This research emphasizes the importance of understanding subglacial drainage dynamics in the context of ice dynamics and hydrology.
EARTH AND PLANETARY SCIENCE LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
A. M. Solgaard, D. Rapp, B. P. Y. Noel, C. S. Hvidberg
Summary: This study analyzed high-resolution ice velocity data of the Greenland Ice Sheet using a clustering algorithm and identified characteristic seasonal flow patterns. The results showed spatial and interannual variability in these flow patterns, which are linked to water availability at the base of the ice.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
A. G. Stubblefield, T. T. Creyts, J. Kingslake, M. R. Siegfried, M. Spiegelman
Summary: Subglacial lakes are bodies of water that form at the base of ice sheets and glaciers, with the surface elevation above these lakes responding to water volume changes. The correspondence between surface elevation-derived estimates and true values strongly depends on ice thickness, volume-change rate, and basal drag coefficient. Viscous relaxation of the ice-sheet surface can render lake volume changes unobservable with altimetry in many realistic combinations of these factors.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Geography, Physical
Paul G. D. Anker, Keith Makinson, Keith W. Nicholls, Andrew M. Smith
Summary: During the 2018/19 Antarctic field season, the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) drilled three of the deepest hot water drilled subglacial access holes yet through the Rutford Ice Stream. The BEAMISH project utilized a modular design for future deep, clean access hole creation, offering adaptability, redundancy, and minimal logistical footprint. These design features allow for easy modifications for exploration of subglacial environments.
ANNALS OF GLACIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Geography, Physical
Keith Makinson, Paul G. D. Anker, Jonathan Garces, David J. Goodger, Scott Polfrey, Julius Rix, Alejandro Silva, Andrew M. Smith, Jose A. Uribe, Rodrigo Zamora
Summary: Recent drilling successes in West Antarctica have shown the feasibility of using hot water drilling to access subglacial environments over 2000 meters deep, paving the way for further exploration of subglacial lakes.
ANNALS OF GLACIOLOGY
(2021)