character of the englacial and subglacial drainage system in the upper part of the ablation area of storglaciaren sweden on 4 july 1986 dye was injected at a point slightly above the equil ibrium line on storglac iliren a small valley glacier in northern sweden just below the equilibrium line the glacier bed is over deep ened the dye re appeared in a stream at the glacier terminus over the next 35 d this stream normally carries relatively little sediment in constrast to the situ ation in another nearby stream that also emerges from the glacier this sugge sts that the dye traveled in englacial rather than subglacial conduits tracer tests utilizing salt in bore holes in the overde epening support this interp retation as the bore holes were draining well above the bed the dye appeared during three distinct events suggesting that it became divided into at least three separate parcels shortly after iojection this probably occurred in the crevassed area in the vicinity of the inje ction point the englacial location of the drainage may be explained by the fact that in order to remain at the pressure melting p oint water in subg lacial conduits coming out of the overde epening may have had to warm up faster than would be possible by visc ous heating alone such

transfer of basal sliding variations to the surface of a linearly viscous glacier on etudie pour une plaque a faces paralleles d epaisseur h et de viscosite lineaire l effet en surface des fluctuations de la vitesse de derapage

nontransform offsets of the pacific cocos plate boundary and their traces on the rise flank a multi beam bathymetric reconnaissance of the fast spreading crest of the east pacific rise between 7 n and 2 6 n found the axial ridge to be interrupted by four 4 13 km non transform offsets they have probably persisted since initiation by a small change in spreading direction 3 5 ma at each offset the volcanic rift zones veer 15 toward each other and overlap for 5 25 km around deep basins intervening lateral displacements of the rift zones are too short 2 5 km to break the linear axial volcanoes but cause local bends in their plan shapes some examples have a morphology that mimics the larger intervolcano offsets interpretation of a thorough bathymetric and magnetic survey around the 9 km 5 5 n offset indicates that the mainly one sided spreading from the overlapped sections of rift zone occurs by a combination of highly asymmetric dike accretion and episodic small scale jumps of the eruptive zone the northern rift zone is elongating propagating at the expense of the southern one the resulting along axis migration of this and other examples at speeds comparable to spreading rates causes the rise flank scars of the nontransform offsets equivalent to the fracture zones of transform faults to be oblique to the spreading direction these traces are recognizable within the highly lineated fault block terrain of the rise flanks because of the distinctive morphology of the 5 25 km wide bands that accreted at overlapped sections of the rift zones here lineation is less marked and oblique to the spreading direction and volcanic relief is more important than relief caused by faulting the west flank trace of the 5 5 n offset is occupied by a line of volcanoes and shallow volcanic ridges several other volcanic chains previously identified as hot spot traces seem to have grown in similar tectonic settings

microscale evidence of liquefaction and its potential triggers during soft bed deformation within subglacial traction tills published conceptual models argue that much of the forward motion of modern and ancient glaciers is accommodated by deformation of soft sediments within the underlying bed at a microscale this deformation results in the development of a range of ductile and brittle structures in water saturated sediments as they accommodate the stresses being applied by the overriding glacier detailed micromorphological studies of subglacial traction tills reveal that these polydeformed sediments may also contain evidence of having undergone repeated phases of liquefaction followed by solid state shear deformation this spatially and temporally restricted liquefaction of subglacial traction tills lowers the shear strength of the sediment and promotes the formation of transient mobile zones within the bed which accommodate the shear imposed by the overriding ice this process of soft bed sliding alternating with bed deformation facilitates glacier movement by way of stick slip events the various controls on the slip events have previously been identified as i the introduction of pressurised meltwater into the bed a process limited by the porosity and permeability of the till and ii pressurisation of porewater as a result of subglacial deformation to which we include iii episodic liquefaction of water saturated subglacial traction tills in response to glacier seismic activity icequakes which are increasingly being recognized as significant processes in modern glaciers and ice sheets as liquefaction operates only in materials already at very low values of effective stress its process form signatures are likely indicative of glacier sub marginal tills

deepening of inner gorges through subglacial meltwater an example from the unesco entlebuch area switzerland this paper explores the mechanisms by which inner gorges in the alps were formed it focuses on the ca 1 5 km long 80 m deep and a few hundred meter wide lammschlucht located in the northern foothills of the central alps we reconstructed the glacial cover using lateral moraines and hanging talus cones that record the elevation of the ice surface at the deglaciation stage of the lgm last glacial maximum we used the reconstructed ice thickness patterns to calculate the erosional potential of the subglacial meltwater the applied model is based on the principle of energy conservation and yields the pattern of downstream changes of the dynamic pressure which is considered a measure for erosion potential the model results suggest a maximum of the dynamic pressure at the end of the inner gorge we interpret therefore that the subglacial meltwater scoured the reach toward the end of the lammschlucht because of the enhanced dynamic pressure which was ultimately controlled by the ice overburden post glacial fluvial erosion then resulted in a readjustment through a regressive shift of the erosional front along the inner gorge farther upstream the current location of this front lies almost in the middle of the lammschlucht inner gorge where a step pool channel changes into a straight plane bed channel flowing on a deeply scoured bedrock

the use of borehole video in investigating the hydrology of a temperate glacier a geovision micro colour video camera was used to investigate the internal structure of 11 boreholes at haut glacier d arolla switzerland the boreholes were distributed across a half section of the glacier with closest spacing towards the glacier margin the boreholes were used to investigate the hydrology of the glacier through automatic monitoring of borehole water level and electrical conductivity ec at the glacier bed ec profiling was undertaken in several boreholes to determine the existence of water quality stratification temporal variations in ec stratification were used to infer borehole water sources and patterns of water circulation borehole video was used to confirm the conclusions made from these indirect sources of evidence and to provide an independent source of information on the structure and hydrology of this temperate valley glacier the video showed variations in water turbidity englacial channels and voids conditions at the glacier bed and down borehole changes in ice structure based on the video observations englacial channels accounted for approximately 0 1 of the vertical ice thickness and englacial voids for approximately 0 4 overall the video images provided useful qualitative and semi quantitative data that reinforce interpretations of a range of physical and chemical parameters measured in boreholes 1997 by john wiley sons ltd

impact of subglacial geothermal activity on meltwater quality in the jokulsa a solheimasandi system southern iceland the influence of subglacial geothermal activity on the hydrochemistry of the jokulsa a solheimasandi glacial meltwater river south iceland is discussed a radio echosounding and global positioning system survey of south west myrdalsjokull the parent ice cap of the valley glacier solheimajokull establishes the geometry and position of a subglacial caldera a cauldron in the ice cap surface at the basin head is also defined signifying one location of geothermally driven ablation processes background h 2 s concentrations for the jokulsa meltwaters in summer 1989 show that leakage of geothermal fluids into the glacial drainage network takes place throughout the melt season chemical geothermometry na k ratio applied to the bulk meltwaters tentatively suggests that the subglacial geothermal area is a high temperature field with a reservoir temperature of 289 304 c a major event of enhanced geothermal fluid injection was also detected against a background of an apparently warming geothermal reservoir the event began on julian day 205 24 july with a burst of subglacial seismic activity meltwater hydrochemical perturbations followed on day 209 and peaked on day 213 finally leading to a sudden and significant increase in flow on day 214 the hydrochemical excursions were characterized by strong peaks in meltwater h 2 s so 2 4 and total carbonate concentrations transient decreases in ph small increases in ca 2 and mg 2 and sustained increases in electrical conductivity the event may relate to temporary invigoration of the subglacial convective hydrothermal circulation seismic disturbance of patterns of groundwater flow and geothermal fluid recruitment to the subglacial drainage network or a cyclic sweeping out of the geothermal zone by the annual wave of descending groundwater time lags between seismic events and meltwater electrical conductivity responses suggest mean and maximum intraglacial throughflow velocities of 0 032 0 132 ms 1 respectively consistent with a distributed drainage system beneath solheimajokull because increases in flow follow hydrochemical perturbations the potential exists to use meltwater hydrochemistry to forecast geothermally driven flood events in such environments

ice speed of a calving glacier modulated by small fluctuations in basal water pressure ice flow acceleration has played a crucial role in the rapid retreat of calving glaciers in alaska greenland and antarctica high frequency measurements of ice speed and basal water temperatures from a calving glacier in patagonia show that changes in basal water pressure by a few per cent can significantly affect ice flow speed ice flow acceleration has played a crucial role in the rapid retreat of calving glaciers in alaska1 2 greenland and antarctica3 4 glaciers that calve in water flow much faster than those that terminate on land as a result of enhanced basal ice motion where basal water pressure is high5 however a scarcity of subglacial observations in calving glaciers limits a mechanistic understanding here we present high frequency measurements of ice speed and basal water pressures from glaciar perito moreno a fast flowing calving glacier in patagonia we measured water pressure in boreholes drilled at a site where the glacier is 515 5 m thick and where more than 60 of the ice is below the level of proglacial lakes we found that the mean basal water pressure was about 95 of the pressure imposed by the weight of the overlying ice moreover changes in basal water pressure by a few per cent drove nearly 40 of the variations in ice flow speed the ice speed was strongly correlated to air temperature suggesting that glacier motion was modulated by water pressure changes as meltwater entered the system we conclude that basal water pressure in calving glaciers is important for glacier dynamics and closely connected to climate conditions

the effect of the subglacial water pressure on the sliding velocity of a glacier in an idealized numerical model in order to interpret observed short term variations of the sliding velocity of a glacier the effect of a variable subglacial water pressure on the sliding velocity has been studied using an idealized numerical model in particular the transient stages of growing or shrinking water filled cavities at the ice bedrock interface were analysed it was found that the sliding velocity was larger when cavities were growing than when they had reached the steady state size for a given water pressure the smallest sliding velocities occurred while cavities were shrinking when cavitation is substantial a small drop of water pressure below the steady state value e g by 0 5 bar can temporarily cause backward sliding a limiting water pressure at which sliding becomes unstable is derived the consequences of more realistic assumptions than those of the model are discussed

links between short term velocity variations and the subglacial hydrology of a predominantly cold polythermal glacier the surface velocity of a predominantly cold polythermal glacier john evans glacier ellesmere island canada varies significantly on both seasonal and shorter time scales seasonal variations reflect the penetration of supraglacial water to the glacier bed through significant thicknesses of cold ice shorter term events are associated with periods of rapidly increasing water inputs to the subglacial drainage system earlyseason short term events immediately follow the establishment of a drainage connection between glacier surface and glacier bed and coincide with the onset of subglacial outflow at the terminus a mid season short term event occurred as surface melting resumed following cold weather and may have been facilitated by partial closure of subglacial channels during this cold period there is a close association between the timing and spatial distribution of horizontal and vertical velocity anomalies the temporal pattern of surface water input to the glacier and the formation seasonal evolution and distribution of subglacial drainage pathways these factors presumably control the occurrence of highwater pressure events and water storage at the glacier bed the observed coupling between surface water inputs and glacier velocity may allow predominantly cold polythermal glaciers to respond rapidly to climate induced changes in surface melting

influence of increasing surface melt over decadal timescales on land terminating greenland type outlet glaciers over recent decades greenland ice sheet surface melt has shown an increase both in intensity and spatial extent part of this water probably reaches the bed and can enhance glacier speed advecting a larger volume of ice into the ablation area in the context of a warming climate this mechanism could contribute to the future rate of thinning and retreat of land terminating glaciers of greenland these changes in ice flow conditions will in turn influence surface crevassing and thus the ability of water to reach the bed at higher elevations here using a coupled basal hydrology and prognostic ice flow model the evolution of a greenland type glacier subject to increasing surface melt is studied over a few decades for different scenarios of surface melt increase over the next decades the evolution of crevassed areas and the ability of water to reach the bed is inferred our results indicate that the currently observed crevasse distribution is likely to extend further upstream which will allow water to reach the bed at higher elevations this will lead to an increase in ice flux into the ablation area which in turn accelerates the mass loss of land terminating glaciers

links between acceleration melting and supraglacial lake drainage of the western greenland ice sheet 1 the impact of increasing summer melt on the dynamics and stability of the greenland ice sheet is not fully understood mounting evidence suggests seasonal evolution of subglacial drainage mitigates or counteracts the ability of surface runoff to increase basal sliding here we compare subdaily ice velocity and uplift derived from nine global positioning system stations in the upper ablation zone in west greenland to surface melt and supraglacial lake drainage during summer 2007 starting around day 173 we observe speedups of 6 41 above spring velocity lasting 40 days accompanied by sustained surface uplift at most stations followed by a late summer slowdown after initial speedup we see a spatially uniform velocity response across the ablation zone and strong diurnal velocity variations during periods of melting most lake drainages were undetectable in the velocity record and those that were detected only perturbed velocities for 1 day suggesting preexisting drainage systems could efficiently drain large volumes of water the dynamic response to melt forcing appears to 1 be driven by changes in subglacial storage of water that is delivered in diurnal and episodic pulses and 2 decrease over the course of the summer presumably as the subglacial drainage system evolves to greater efficiency the relationship between hydrology and ice dynamics observed is similar to that observed on mountain glaciers suggesting that seasonally large water pressures under the ice sheet largely compensate for the greater ice thickness considered here thus increases in summer melting may not guarantee faster seasonal ice flow

a modeling study of the effect of runoff variability on the effective pressure beneath russell glacier west greenland basal sliding is a main control on glacier flow primarily driven by water pressure at the glacier base the ongoing increase in surface melting of the greenland ice sheet warrants an examination of its impact on basal water pressure and in turn on basal sliding here we examine the case of russell glacier in west greenland where an extensive set of observations has been collected these observations suggest that the recent increase in melt has had an equivocal impact on the annual velocity with stable flow on the lower part of the drainage basin but accelerated flow above the equilibrium line altitude ela these distinct behaviors have been attributed to different evolutions of the subglacial draining system during and after the melt season here we use a high resolution subglacial hydrological model forced by reconstructed surface runoff for the period 2008 to 2012 to investigate the cause of these distinct behaviors we find that the increase in meltwater production at low elevation yields a more efficient drainage system compatible with the observed stagnation of the mean annual flow below the ela at higher elevation the model indicates that the drainage system is mostly inefficient and is therefore strongly sensitive to an increase in meltwater availability which is consistent with the observed increase in ice velocity

satellite derived volume loss rates and glacier speeds for the juneau icefield alaska we provide a high resolution map of elevation change rates dh dt at the juneau icefield jif southeastern alaska in order to quantify its contribution to sea level rise between 2000 and 2009 2013 we also produce the first high resolution map of ice speeds at the jif which we use to constrain flux and look for acceleration we calculate dh dt using stacked digital elevation models dems from the advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer aster instrument and the shuttle radar topography mission srtm taking into account srtm c band penetration via comparison with srtm x band elevations overall the jif is losing mass less rapidly 0 13 0 12mw e a than other alaskan icefields 0 79mw e a we determine glacier speeds using pixel tracking on optical image pairs acquired from 2001 to 2010 by aster from radar image pairs acquired between 2007 and 2011 and from radar interferometry in 1995 we detect seasonal speed variations but no interannual acceleration ruling out dynamics as the cause of the observed thinning thinning must therefore be due to the documented warming in the region flux measurements confirm this for mendenhall glacier showing that calving constitutes only 2 5 5 of mass loss there

weertman lliboutry and the development of sliding theory this paper reviews the seminal contributions and tussles of weertman and lliboutry to the theory of glacier sliding in the 1950s and 1960s and summarizes later developments up to the present day the sliding law solid ice in the form of glaciers and ice sheets flows on long timescales due to solid state creep processes and the resulting rheology is usually described in terms of a generalized newtonian fluid most commonly this takes the form of glen s law although other variants are possible the formulation of a viscous glacier flow in this way leads to an elliptic partial differential equation for the flow velocity which requires the posing of boundary data at both the upper free surface and the base or bed of the glacier mostly viscous liquids are thought to obey a no slip boundary condition at a solid boundary on the intuitive notion that the fluid molecules effectively adhere to the boundary but there is no intrinsic reason why this should be so and indeed the veracity of the condition was a subject of controversy in the 19th century goldstein 1938 a generalization called the navier slip condition allows a nonzero slip velocity proportional to stress and it is thought that such a condition is necessary to alleviate an unphysical singularity discontinuous velocity which would otherwise occur in the motion of a contact line where a two fluid interface intersects a wall dussan and davis 1974 it has long been understood that glaciers also slip at the bed and the resulting boundary condition for the flow which relates basal velocity u to basal stress has come to be known as the sliding law and it is the efforts that have been put into its determination that form the subject of this paper an issue which needs immediate clarification is what is meant by the basal stress the quantityrefers to the shear stress in the ice near the bed on the scale of the ice depth di but far from the bed on the scale l of the bed roughness in the language of matched asymptotic expansions the basal shear stress is the limiting value at the bed of the outer solution in an asymptotic expansion in the small parameter l di 1 1

calving processes and the dynamics of calving glaciers abstract calving of icebergs is an important component of mass loss from the polar ice sheets and glaciers in many parts of the world calving rates can increase dramatically in response to increases in velocity and or retreat of the glacier margin with important implications for sea level change despite their importance calving and related dynamic processes are poorly represented in the current generation of ice sheet models this is largely because understanding the calving problem involves several other long standing problems in glaciology combined with the difficulties and dangers of field data collection in this paper we systematically review different aspects of the calving problem and outline a new framework for representing calving processes in ice sheet models we define a hierarchy of calving processes to distinguish those that exert a fundamental control on the position of the ice margin from more localised processes responsible for individual calving events the first order control on calving is the strain rate arising from spatial variations in velocity particularly sliding speed which determines the location and depth of surface crevasses superimposed on this first order process are second order processes that can further erode the ice margin these include fracture propagation in response to local stress imbalances in the immediate vicinity of the glacier front undercutting of the glacier terminus by melting at or below the waterline and bending at the junction between grounded and buoyant parts of an ice tongue calving of projecting submerged ice feet can be regarded as a third order process because it is paced by first or second order calving above the waterline first order calving can be represented in glacier models using a calving criterion based on crevasse depth which is a function of longitudinal strain rate modelling changes in terminus position and calving rates thus reduces to the problem of determining the ice geometry and velocity distribution realistic solutions to the problem of modelling ice flow therefore depend critically on an appropriate choice of sliding law models that assume that basal velocities are controlled by basal drag can replicate much of the observed behaviour of calving glaciers with grounded termini but an important limitation is that they cannot be used to model floating glacier termini or ice shelves alternative sliding laws that parameterise drag from the glacier margins provide more flexible and robust ways of representing calving in ice sheet models such models can explain a remarkable range of observed phenomena within a simple unifying framework including downglacier increases in velocity and strain rates where basal and or lateral drag diminishes flow acceleration in response to thinning through time the tendency for glaciers to stabilise at pinning points in relatively shallow water or fjord narrowings the constraints on ice shelf stability and the contrasts in calving rates between tidewater and freshwater calving glaciers many unresolved issues remain however including the role played by the removal of backstress in the acceleration of retreating calving glaciers and the controls on melting at and below the waterline

do debris covered glaciers demonstrate distinctive hydrological behaviour compared to clean glaciers abstract supraglacial debris is known to strongly influence the distribution of glacier surface melt since melt inputs drive the formation and evolution of glacial drainage systems it should follow that the drainage systems of debris covered glaciers will differ from those of debris free glaciers this would have implications for the proglacial runoff regime subglacial erosion and glacier dynamics this paper presents analysis of return curves from 33 successful dye injections into the extensively debris covered miage glacier italian alps it demonstrates that the spatial distribution of supraglacial debris influences the structure and seasonal evolution of the glacial drainage system where the debris cover is continuous melt is lower and the surface topography is chaotic with many small supraglacial catchments these factors result in an inefficient englacial subglacial drainage network beneath continuous debris which drains to the conduit system emanating from the upper ablation zone melt rates are high in areas of clean and dirty ice above the continuous debris runoff from these areas is concentrated by inter moraine troughs into large supraglacial streams which encourages the early season development of an efficient englacial subglacial conduit system downstream of this area drainage efficiency from the debris covered area increases over the melt season but dye trace transit velocity remains lower than from moulins on the upper glacier future runoff models should account for the influence of supraglacial debris on the hydrological system

modifications to the theory of intraglacial waterways for the case of subglacial ones on defend l idee que dans les glaciers de montagne temperes les voies d eau sont sous glaciaires pour un conduit noye sous glaciaire il faut introduire deux processus importants l accroissement de la deformation plastique sur les cotes amont des bosses et la chaleur apportee par l eau des sources qui en hiver rend compte de la plus grande partie du debit la theorie explique pourquoi rothlisberger 1972 dut adopter une valeur non realiste pour le parametre rheologique de la glace elle conduit a la conclusion que dans les zones non surcreusees la plus grande partie de l annee les conduits sous glaciaires doivent rester non noyes et a la pression atmospherique cas des surcreusements l incidence de ce nouveau modele sur la theorie du glissement des glaciers

the importance of pressurized subglacial water in separation and sliding at the glacier bed l effet de l eau sous glaciaire sous pression sur le processus de glissement est examine a partir d un parametre appele indice de decollement du lit qui exprime les contraintes perpendiculaires au lit et la pression d eau les donnees proviennent de trois glaciers de formes differentes une loi puissance du type de weertman avec un exposant voisin de 3 modifiee pour tenir compte de l effet de la pression des eaux sous glaciaires apparait comme etant la meilleure

variability in ice motion at a land terminating greenlandic outlet glacier the role of channelized and distributed drainage systems we use a combination of field observations and hydrological modelling to examine the mechanisms through which variability in meltwater input affects ice motion at a land terminating greenlandic outlet glacier we find a close agreement between horizontal ice velocity vertical ice velocity and modelled subglacial water pressure over the course of a melt season on this basis we argue that variation in horizontal and vertical ice velocity primarily reflects the displacement of basal ice during periods of cavity expansion and contraction a process itself driven by fluctuations in basal water pressure originating in subglacial channels this process is not captured by traditional sliding laws linking water pressure and basal velocity which may hinder the simulation of realistic diurnal to seasonal variability in ice velocity in coupled models of glacial hydrology and dynamics

abrupt glacier motion and reorganization of basal shear stress following the establishment of a connected drainage system three episodes of strong basal motion occurred at trapridge glacier yukon territory canada on 11 june 1995 following the establishment of a connected subglacial drainage system responses to these spring events are noted in the records for 42 instruments and were recorded throughout the 60 000 m study area strong basal motion during the events is indicated by ploughmeter load bolt and vertical strain records and abrupt pressure changes in several transducer records denote damage caused by extreme pressure pulses these pressure pulses generated by the abrupt basal motion also resulted in the failure of seven pressure sensors records for pressure turbidity and conductivity sensors indicate that basal drainage patterns did not change significantly during the events geophone records suggest that the episodes of basal motion were precipitated by the gradual failure of a sticky spot following hydraulic connection of part of the study area this failure resulted in the transfer of basal stress to the unconnected region of the bed during the course of the events no evidence for strong basal motion is seen in the instrument records for several weeks following the events suggesting that the mechanical adjustments resulted in a stable configuration of basal stresses this event illustrates how unstable situations can be quickly accommodated by mechanical adjustments at the glacier bed

incremental subglacial meltwater sediment deposition and deformation associated with repeated ice bed decoupling a case study from the island of funen denmark abstract on the island of funen denmark sediments that are 4 7 m below the land surface consist of a 2 4 m thick sequence of stacked and folded glaciofluvial sediments overlain by a 2 3 m thick basal till the glaciofluvial sediments consist of tabular beds of planar stratified massive and cross stratified sand and gravel with localized channel fills of open framework gravel sand and gravel beds exhibit curvilinear sheath folding often leading to eye folds this folding is attributed to repeated glacier bed decoupling and recoupling with subglacial deposition of sand and gravel by meltwater occurring during the decoupling phase and deformation occurring during recoupling sand and gravel beds are typically separated by silty clay beds and laminations recording slackwater deposition within subglacial cavities folds frequently display attenuated upper limbs reflecting shearing associated with overlying ice movement on lower fold limbs only localized thrusting is observed suggesting water saturation of sands and gravels during deformation and relatively low strain rates folds are frequently truncated by overlying sand and gravel beds no evidence of shearing is found along these contacts which are interpreted as erosional surfaces thus we propose that the glaciofluvial sediment sequence records incremental step wise subglacial deposition and deformation rather than wholesale deformation following emplacement of the entire glaciofluvial sequence specifically we envisage that individual beds were deposited and folded subglacially with ice bed decoupling occurring during sediment deposition followed by recoupling and shearing of the upper bed surface by the ice base to produce folds with attenuated upper limbs incremental deformation and folding were facilitated by elevated porewater pressure within the sediments silty clay beds helped to maintain elevated porewater pressure by acting as local aquitards a general absence of till from the glaciofluvial sequence save for localized cm scale blocks suggests either non deposition or reworking into the glaciofluvial sediments deposition of tabular sand and gravel beds and open framework gravel filling scours within single beds suggest broad sheet like subglacial flows 10 100 m wide that become increasingly channelized we propose that the sedimentary sequence records a highly dynamic glaciohydraulic system characterized by repeated localized subglacial cavity development and storage and release of meltwater leading to glacier decoupling that may have facilitated fast flow of the baltic ice stream

rapid advance of two mountain glaciers in response to mine related debris loading rapid glacier advance is known to occur by a range of mechanisms however although large scale debris loading has been proposed as a process for causing rapid terminus advance it has rarely been observed we use satellite remote sensing data to observe accelerated glacier terminus advance in response to massive supraglacial loading on two glaciers in kyrgyzstan over a 15 year period mining activity has led to the dumping of spoil of up to 180 m thick on large parts of these valley glaciers we find that the termini of these glaciers advance by 1 2 and 3 2 km respectively at a rate of up to 350 m yr 1 our analysis suggests that although enhanced basal sliding could be an important process massive supraglacial loads have also caused enhanced internal ice deformation that would account for most or all of the glacier terminus advance in addition narrowing of the glacier valley and mining and dumping of ice alter the mass balance and flow regime of the glaciers although the scale of supraglacial loading is massive this full scale experiment provides insight into glacier flow acceleration response where small valley glaciers are impacted by very large volumes of landslide debris

coupling between a glacier and a soft bed ii model results the relation between the local effective pressure and shear stress on till beneath storglaciaren sweden discussed in iverson and others 1999 provides an empirical basis for studying the processes that control the strength of the ice bed coupling particles in the bed that protrude into the glacier sole support shear stresses that are limited by either ploughing or the traditional sliding mechanisms model calculations based on studies of cone penetration through fine grained sediment and sliding theory agree with the observed relation between shear stress and effective pressure if the water layer at the ice bed interface is assumed to thicken rapidly as the effective pressure approaches zero studies of the hydraulics of linked cavities provide support for this assumption if the mean thickness of the water layer reflects the extent of microcavity development at the interface comparison of the calculated shear stress with the ultimate strength of till suggests that bed deformation limits the shear stress on till beneath storglaciaren only at intermediate effective pressures at very low effective pressures like those inferred at the site of the tiltmeter discussed in iverson and others 1999 and at sufficiently high effective pressures ploughing and sliding should focus motion near the glacier sole a calculation using parameter values appropriate for ice stream b west antarctica suggests that ploughing may occur there at shear stresses not sufficient to deform the bed at depth this conclusion is reinforced by the likelihood that pore pressures in excess of hydrostatic should develop down glacier from ploughing particles thereby weakening the bed near the glacier sole however given the apparent sensitivity of the ice bed coupling to basal conditions that may be highly variable any blanket assumption regarding the flow mechanism of ice masses on soft beds should probably be viewed with skepticism

spatially distributed runoff at the grounding line of a large greenlandic tidewater glacier inferred from plume modelling understanding the drivers of recent change at greenlandic tidewater glaciers is of great importance if we are to predict how these glaciers will respond to climatic warming a poorly constrained component of tidewater glacier processes is the near terminus subglacial hydrology here we present a novel method for constraining near terminus subglacial hydrology with application to marine terminating kangiata nunata sermia in south west greenland by simulating proglacial plume dynamics using buoyant plume theory and a general circulation model we assess the critical subglacial discharge if delivered through a single compact channel required to generate a plume that reaches the fjord surface we then compare catchment runoff to a time series of plume visibility acquired from a time lapse camera we identify extended periods throughout the 2009 melt season where catchment runoff significantly exceeds the discharge required for a plume to reach the fjord surface yet we observe no plume we attribute these observations to spatial spreading of runoff across the grounding line persistent distributed drainage near the terminus would lead to more spatially homogeneous submarine melting and may promote more rapid basal sliding during warmer summers potentially providing a mechanism independent of ocean forcing for increases in atmospheric temperature to drive tidewater glacier acceleration

structure morphology and water flux of a subglacial drainage system midtdalsbreen norway digital elevation models of the surface and bed of midtdalsbreen norway are used to calculate subglacial hydraulic potential and infer drainage system structure for a series of subglacial water pressure assumptions ranging from atmospheric to ice overburden a distributed degree day model is used to calculate the spatial distribution of melt on the glacier surface throughout a typical summer which is accumulated along the various drainage system structures to calculate water fluxes beneath the glacier and exiting the portals for the different water pressure assumptions in addition 78 dye tracing tests were performed from 33 injection sites and numerous measurements of water discharge were made on the main proglacial streams over several summer melt seasons comparison of the calculated drainage system structures and water fluxes with dye tracing results and measured proglacial stream discharges suggests that the temporally and spatially averaged steady state water pressures beneath the glacier are 70 of ice overburden analysis of the dye return curves together with the calculated subglacial water fluxes shows that the main drainage network on the eastern half of the glacier consists of a hydraulically efficient system of broad low channels average width height ratio 75 the smaller drainage network on the west consists of a hydraulically inefficient distributed system dominated by channels that are exceptionally broad and very low average width height ratio 350 the even smaller central drainage network also consists of a hydraulically inefficient distributed system dominated by channels that are very broad and exceptionally low average width height ratio 450 the channels beneath the western and central glacier must be so broad and low that they can essentially be thought of as a linked cavity system

hydrological discharges and motion of fels and black rapids glaciers alaska u s a implications for the structure of their drainage systems characteristics of the hydrology and motion of black rapids and fels glaciers alaska were observed from 1986 to 1989 hydrological measurements included stage electrical conductivity and suspended sediment concentration in the discharge stream of each glacier and were made at 0 5 1 h intervals continuously through most of the melt seasons variations in the glacier speed were monitored through the full year at a number of locations along the length of each glacier using time lapse photography 1 d time resolution strain meters 0 5 1 h resolution and seismometers set up to count acoustic emissions both glaciers show similar seasonal diurnal and short term event changes in hydrological discharges and ice speed the hydrological behavior is analyzed in terms of a fast sub system composed of surface streams moulins and large tunnels with discharge that responds rapidly and a slow sub system composed of heterogeneous small passageways through the ice and distributed over the bed that maintain approximately uniform discharge over a day the timing and amplitude of water discharge in the diurnal cycle indicate that roughly 10 40 of the water is routed directly into the fast system the remaining 90 60 of the water enters the slow system dilution of the solute discharged from the slow system by the variable discharge in the fast system results in changes in water discharge and solute concentration that are approximately equal in relative amplitude and inversely related a small time lag from discharge maximum minimum to solute minimum maximum suggests that the fast system is confined to roughly the lowermost 30 40 of the full glacier length the residence time of water in the fast system is short compared to 1 d the slow system contains both short and long residence time passages characteristics of the diurnal cycles are somewhat variable through the melt season but no systematic evolutionary patterns were discerned even though large changes in the mean discharges of water and solutes occur which suggests parallel evolution of the variables that control the response of the fast system events were characterized by contemporaneous increases in suspended sediment concentration in the discharge water and distinct changes in straining on the glaciers events caused by increases in melt or precipitation related to weather and events related to release from reservoirs internal to the glaciers could be distinguished based on the changes in electrical conductivity of the discharge water the correlated changes in sediment discharge and motion of the glaciers indicate that the events were associated with temporary modifications of the slow passages distributed over the bed that allowed enhanced sliding and access of basal water flow to erosion products hydrological differences between black rapids and fels glaciers can be explained by differences in the size of the glaciers if there is a difference in bed structure that explains the difference in dynamics surge black rapids glacier versus non surge fels glacier it does not affect the hydrological parameters that were observed

human impacts on the changjiang yangtze river basin china with special reference to the impacts on the dry season water discharges into the sea abstract the annual mean discharge from the upper changjiang yangtze basin has shown a significant decreasing trend since the end of the 19th century since the 1970s the monthly mean discharge to the sea has also shown a dramatic decrease during dry seasons this paper examines the human impacts on the major hydrological processes in the changjiang river basin with a special focus on their influence on the discharge from the drainage basin to the sea during the dry season climatic warming has been obvious since the 1960s in the headwater area resulting a continuous retreat of glaciers while the increased evaporation is responsible for the dropping of lake water levels and decrease in water area such a trend continuing into the coming decades will significantly change the seasonal hydrological processes especially the dry season discharges from the upper basin the decreasing vegetation cover and the increasing reservoir volume capacity also impacted on the water discharge over the past decades although in different ways the possible impacts of the three gorges dam on the monthly variation of water discharge to the sea are discussed with special emphasis in the middle basin discussions are focused on the effect of decreasing lake area of increasing reservoir capacity and of irrigated agriculture on the temporal changes of water discharge since the 1950s the human impacts on water discharge from the lower basin to the sea are mostly attributed to water transfer to both tributary and neighboring drainage basins by a large number of electric pumping stations and sluices the total water transferring capacity is more than 5000 m3 s along the lower river studies indicate that in a dry season the water discharge to the sea is greatly reduced and results in strong saltwater intrusion in the estuary

growth and collapse of the distributed subglacial hydrologic system of kennicott glacier alaska usa and its effects on basal motion nearly 100 days of hourly glacier motion hydrology and hydrochemistry measurements on kennicott glacier alaska usa demonstrate the complicated relationship between water and motion at the glacier bed our observations capture the transient glacier response to seasonal and daily melt cycles and to a jokulhlaup that prompts a sixfold increase in glacier speed sliding is promoted whenever the water inputs to the glacier exceed the capacity of the subglacial hydrologic system to transmit the water sensitivity of sliding to daily meltwater inputs varies strongly through the season implying that the state of the hydrologic system governs the sensitivity of basal sliding a numerical model constructed to explore these relationships reveals the roles of the effective pressure the exponent to which this is taken in the sliding law 0 1 0 6 glacier macroporosity 2 and the cavity generating capacity of the glacier bed which encapsulates the sizes and spacing of bed roughness elements temporal changes in the effective pressure associated with evolution of both water inputs and subglacial water transmission capacity can explain the varying strength of diurnal velocity fluctuations of kennicott glacier spatial patterns of glacier macroporosity and of basal roughness govern variation in sensitivity of sliding to water inputs

sliding phenomena in a steep section of balmhorngletscher switzerland annual aerial photographs of balmhorngletscher available since 1973 have furnished data on large ice avalanches originating in one particular location the avalanches characteristically occur during an active phase of fast sliding the analysis of a photogrammetric 1 2000 bedrock map of longitudinal ice surface profiles from photographs taken at various times and of velocity measurements by theodolite has shown that the fast sliding and the release of the avalanches in an area of about 250 by 100 m is quite independent of ice thickness it is suggested that besides the slope of the bed rock roughness and topographical features the particular structure of the rock surface in the fashion of tiles on a roof is a factor which influences the processes of fast sliding and avalanche formation it is suggested that meltwater gains access to cavities at the rock steps from where it is dragged along on the ice rock interface getting slowly worked into the basal ice layer many weeks after the beginning of the melt season the evolving acceleration becomes apparent characteristically at the beginning of september once the surface meltwater gains direct access to the bed through fresh crevasses the glacier accelerates progressively as water enters cracks faults and microfissures water pressure effects may become important as cavities grow while the gradual development of the active phase permits to forecast the growing avalanche risk the prediction of the event in time is a long way off if practical at all

caterpillar like ice motion in the ablation zone of the greenland ice sheet current understanding of ice dynamics predicts that increasing availability and variability of meltwater will have an impact on basal motion and therefore on the evolution and future behavior of the greenland ice sheet we present measurements of ice deformation subglacial water pressure and surface velocity that show periodic and episodic variations on several time scales seasonal multiday and diurnal these variations observed with gps and sensors at different depths throughout the ice column are not synchronous but show delayed responses of ice deformation with increasing depth and basal water pressure in antiphase with surface velocity with the help of a full stokes ice flow model these observations are explained as ice motion in a caterpillar like fashion caused by patches of different basal slipperiness horizontal stress transfer through the stiff central part of the ice body leads to spatially varying surface velocities and ice deformation patterns variation of this basal slipperiness induces characteristic patterns of ice deformation variability that explain the observed behavior ice flow in the ablation zone of the greenland ice sheet is therefore controlled by activation of basal patches by varying slipperiness in the course of a melt season leading to caterpillar like ice motion superposed on the classical shear deformation

genesis stability and preservation potential of large lateral moraines of alpine valley glaciers towards a unifying theory based on findelengletscher switzerland abstract lateral moraines are prominent features of glaciated landscapes in high mountain environments and key landforms in glacier and palaeoclimatic reconstructions yet compared to smaller moraines they have been little studied and several aspects are not well understood we here present detailed sedimentological results from the lateral moraines of findelengletscher in sw switzerland to gain new insights into the formation of these landforms the lateral moraines studied here stand up to 140 m above the valley floor are over 3 km long and strongly asymmetrical in cross profile with distal slopes between 29 and 36 and proximal slopes that are commonly 41 64 but locally reach angles of up to 80 recorded lithofacies comprise loose clast and matrix supported stratified diamicts and intercalated sorted sediments in the distal slopes and near the crestline overconsolidated matrix supported massive and weakly stratified diamicts and streaked out sorted sediment lenses in the core and proximal slopes and partly intercalated dark brown layers overlain by loose and consolidated diamicts exposed in near vertical walls in the proximal flank these are interpreted as supraglacial debris flow units with intercalated fluvial wash horizons glaciotectonised and subglacial traction till with boudinaged and streaked out sediment lenses and palaeosoils overlain by sediment produced by overtopping of the former moraine surface during a subsequent advance of the glacier clast shape analysis and process observations reveal that the dominant mode of transport is subglacial and glaciofluvial and that the main mode of sediment delivery to the moraines is by debris flows after the material has been transferred from the bed via englacial debris bands and meltout at the surface this differs from previous studies that found that a supraglacial source was dominant sedimentary structures clast fabric and process observations during the 1979 1980 readvance of findelengletscher strongly suggest that proximal layers of reworked pre existing sediments and or basal traction zone till have been plastered onto the moraine core in several locations causing a high degree of overconsolidation and strongly clustered fabric eigenvalues s 1 0 94 with clustering parallel to the moraine crestline this suggests that a combination of basal lateral drag and lateral plastering produces the observed proximal stability and ensures a high preservation potential we develop a conceptual model that describes alpine lateral moraines as structurally complex landforms that do not just record a single event as often surmised and we discuss implications for palaeo glacier reconstruction and the application of numerical dating methods

seasonal variations in greenland ice sheet motion inland extent and behaviour at higher elevations abstract we present global positioning system observations that capture the full inland extent of ice motion variations in 2009 along a transect in the west greenland ice sheet margin in situ measurements of air temperature and surface ablation and satellite monitoring of ice surface albedo and supraglacial lake drainage are used to investigate hydrological controls on ice velocity changes we find a strong positive correlation between rates of annual ablation and changes in annual ice motion along the transect with sites nearest the ice sheet margin experiencing greater annual variations in ice motion 15 18 than those above 1000 m elevation 3 8 patterns in the timing and rate of meltwater delivery to the ice bed interface provide key controls on the magnitude of hydrologically forced velocity variations at each site in the lower ablation zone the overall contribution of variations in ice motion to annual flow rates is limited by evolution in the structure of the subglacial drainage system at sites in the upper ablation zone a shorter period of summer melting and delayed establishment of a hydraulic connection between the ice sheet surface and its bed limit the timeframe for velocity variations to occur our data suggest that land terminating sections of the greenland ice sheet will experience increased dynamic mass loss in a warmer climate as the behaviour that we observe in the lower ablation zone propagates further inland findings from this study provide a conceptual framework to understand the impact of hydrologically forced velocity variations on the future mass balance of land terminating sections of the greenland ice sheet

sensitivity of greenland ice sheet projections to model formulations physically based projections of the greenland ice sheet contribution to future sea level change are subject to uncertainties of the atmospheric and oceanic climatic forcing and to the formulations within the ice flow model itself here a higher order three dimensional thermomechanical ice flow model is used initialized to the present day geometry the forcing comes from a high resolution regional climate model and from a flowline model applied to four individual marine terminated glaciers and results are subsequently extended to the entire ice sheet the experiments span the next 200 years and consider climate scenario sres a1b the surface mass balance smb scheme is taken either from a regional climate model or from a positive degree day pdd model using temperature and precipitation anomalies from the underlying climate models our model results show that outlet glacier dynamics only account for 6 18 of the sea level contribution after 200 years confirming earlier findings that stress the dominant effect of smb changes furthermore interaction between smb and ice discharge limits the importance of outlet glacier dynamics with increasing atmospheric forcing forcing from the regional climate model produces a 14 31 higher sea level contribution compared to a pdd model run with the same parameters as for ipcc ar4

the sliding velocity over a sinusoidal bed at high water pressure under idealized conditions when pressurized water has access to all low pressure areas at the glacier bed a sliding instability exists at a critical pressure p c well below the overburden pressure p 0 the critical pressure is given by p c p 0 l 2 a where l is the wavelength and a is the amplitude of a sinusoidal bedrock and is the basal shear stress when the subglacial water pressure p w approaches this critical value the area of ice bed contact l becomes very small and the pressure on the contact area becomes very large this pressur is calculated from a force balance and the corresponding rate of compression is obtained using glen s flow law for ice on the assumption that compression in the vicinity of the contact area occurs over a distance of the order of the size of this area l a deformational velocity is estimated the resultant slidin velocity sho the expected instability at the critical water pressure the dependency on other parameters such as wavelength l and roughness a l w as found to be the same as for sliding w ithout bed separation

geoscience the plumbing of greenland s ice observations of the water pressure in drilled boreholes and natural moulins on the greenland ice sheet show how its underlying plumbing system controls ice motion during the course of the summer melt season see letter p 80 increased meltwater delivery to the base of the greenland ice sheet will increase the ice sheet velocity accelerating its inevitable rush towards the ocean and subsequent sea level rise or will it debate on this topic is at the forefront of cryospheric research but has been hampered by the lack of simultaneous observations of hydraulic head in moulins vertical shafts that deliver water to the base of the ice sheet and boreholes which monitor basal water pressure lauren andrews and colleagues now provide these observations from a small region in western greenland and reveal that water delivery by moulins into channelized basal flow is indeed linked to short term fluctuations in ice velocity late season decelerations in ice velocity however seem to be controlled by changes in unchannelized flow rather than any shifts in the moulin system

a boundary layer model for ice stream margins the majority of antarctic ice is discharged via long and narrow fast flowing ice streams at ice stream margins the rapid transition from the vertical shearing flow in the ice ridges surrounding the stream to a rapidly sliding plug flow in the stream itself leads to high stress concentrations and a velocity field whose form is non trivial to determine in this paper we develop a boundary layer theory for this narrow region separating a lubrication type ice ridge flow and a membrane type ice stream flow this allows us to derive jump conditions for the outer models describing ridge and stream self consistently much of our focus is however on determining the velocity and shear heating fields in the margin itself ice stream margins have been observed to change position over time with potentially significant implications for ice stream discharge our boundary layer model allows us to extend previous work that has determined rates of margin migration from a balance between shear heating in the margin and the cooling effect of margin migration into the colder ice of the surrounding ice ridge solving for the transverse velocity field in the margin allows us to include the effect of advection due to lateral inflow of ice from the ridge on margin migration and we demonstrate that this reduces the rate of margin migration as previously speculated

glacial hydrology and erosion patterns a mechanism for carving glacial valleys article i nfo article history most glacial erosion models assume that erosion rates are proportional to ice sliding velocity while recent studies have shown that water plays a major role in modulating sliding velocities the impact it might have on erosion rates is still unclear here we incorporate subglacial hydrology into a glacial erosion model that is based on a sliding rule our results explicitly highlight that adding subglacial hydrology has profound impacts on the temporal and spatial patterns of glacial erosion first it suggests that erosion might mainly occur during melting seasons when subglacial water pressure is large and effective pressure is low i e before the channels fully develop and reduce the water pressure at the ice bedrock interface which promotes sliding and erosion second the distribution of erosion is bimodal with a peak at the equilibrium line altitude and as we demonstrate enhanced erosion at much lower altitudes within the ablation area where water due to melting abounds this has important implications because it explains why glacial erosion can simultaneously

response of glacier basal motion to transient water storage the speed of a glacier is affected most by sudden jumps in the water supply to the glacier but it goes back to previous levels if high water inputs are sustained because the glacier s plumbing system adjusts

on the instability of avalanching glaciers the instability of hanging glaciers and more generally of avalanching glaciers is discussed on the basis of observations performed on several glaciers located in the european alps a classification of avalanching glaciers is proposed which allows a primary appreciation of the danger inherent in these glaciers on the basis of field observations and results of numerical simulations of crevassing the fracture processes which lead to major icefalls as well as their recurrence are analyzed a method for predicting the time of failure is then discussed the disaggregation of the unstable ice masses usually observed prior to large icefalls is investigated and its implications for the forecasting of icefalls analyzed

glacier velocity and water input variability in a maritime environment franz josef glacier new zealand short term glacier velocity variations typically occur when a water input is accommodated by an increase in the subglacial water pressure although these velocity variations have been well documented on many glaciers few studies have considered them on glaciers where heavy rain and glacier melt occur year round this study investigates the relationship between water inputs and glacier velocity on franz josef glacier new zealand we installed six gnss stations across the lower glacier during austral summer 2010 11 and one station during summer 2012 13 glacier velocity remained elevated at all stations for 7 days following large rain events during diurnal melt events we find velocity variations in the early afternoon 12 00 16 00 at 600 m a s l and in the late evening 20 00 01 00 at 400 m a s l we hypothesize that the late evening velocity variations occurred as an upstream region of high subglacial water pressures and accelerated ice motion propagated downstream this mechanism may also explain the increased longitudinal compression and transverse extension across the lower glacier during speed up events our results indicate that the subglacial drainage system likely decreases in efficiency upstream and that the water input variability can still cause short term velocity variations despite the large year round water inputs

glacial abrasion and sliding their dependence on the debris concentration in basal ice a model of bedrock abrasion by a temperate glacier is developed that takes into account the significant impeding effect of scattered rock fragments at the ice rock interface on glacier sliding an increase in the debris concentration above a relatively low value can reduce the abrasion rate by decreasing both the flux of rock fragments and the effective forces which press fragments against the bed abrasion of a simple wavy bed is shown to be most rapid for a relatively low debris concentration above which the abrasion varies inversely with the debris content a similar concentration dependence of abrasion is expected for beds of arbitrary geometry but low roughness sliding glaciers will tend to abrade until the basal ice is nearly stagnant at which point rocks of all sizes start to lodge against the bed

the distribution of basal motion beneath a high arctic polythermal glacier the longitudinal pattern of surface velocity of a large predominantly cold polythermal glacier john evans glacier ellesmere island canada was measured over summer and winter periods inthe accumulation and upper ablationareas where ice is predominantly cold based summer velocities were slightly higher than overwinter velocities predicted velocities due to ice deformation alone in these areas closely matched these observations in the winter with limited basal motion likely in the summer in the lower ablation area where ice is likely warm based measured summer velocities were up to double overwinter velocities predicted ice deformationcould notaccountforall of these measured velocities in either summer or winter this suggests that basal motion occurs throughout the year over at least part of the lower ablation area this finding is supported by radio echo sounding subglacial drainage reconstructions and analyses of early summer meltwater chemistry which suggest that subglacial water is present throughout the year in thisregion insummer basalmotionmayaccountforupto75 ofthetotalsurfacevelocity throughoutthelowerablationarea the inferred rate of basal motionincreasessharplydir ectly below a setof moulinsby which most surface meltwater reachestheglacierbed

subglacial modulation of the hydrograph from glacierized basins the extent of basin glacierization has important implications for the hydrograph in part because snow firn and ice impart different delays in water transport through the system here the significance of subglacial drainage morphology in modulating the hydrograph is examined with a one dimensional physically based model the conceptual model of subglacial drainage comprises both fast and slow elements respectively associated with summer and winter drainage regimes the additional possibility of a permeable glacier substrate is taken into account by allowing water transport in a subglacial aquifer forced by prescribed rates of melt water delivery to the glacier bed the model predicts glacier discharge by drainage system provenance the effects of 1 hard versus soft glacier beds 2 subsurface permeability and groundwater flow and 3 glacier geometry are then investigated hydrograph character in the form of peak timing and amplitude symmetry with respect to the forcing and the amplitude of diurnal fluctuations is affected by the partitioning of water through the various flow elements hard beds and impermeable substrates maximize the discharge routed through the fast drainage system in the simulations generally resulting in higher seasonal discharge maxima and stronger diurnal variations in discharge high hydraulic transmissivities either at the glacier bed or in underlying strata hinder the development of the fast drainage system in the simulations producing hydrographs of lower amplitude glacier geometry has a modest effect with adverse bed slopes very thick or very thin ice and short glacier lengths favouring prolonged drainage through the slow system these results suggest that the morphology and evolution of the subglacial drainage system may play a significant role in determining the character of the hydrograph from glacierized basins

water flow through temperate glaciers understanding water movement through a glacier is fundamental to several critical issues in glaci ology including glacier dynamics glacier induced floods and the prediction of runoff from glacierized drainage basins to this end we have synthesized a conceptual model of water movement through a temper ate glacier from the surface to the outlet stream pro cesses that regulate the rate and distribution of water input at the glacier surface and that regulate water movement from the surface to the bed play important but commonly neglected roles in glacier hydrology where a glacier is covered by a layer of porous perme able firn the accumulation zone the flux of water to the glacier interior varies slowly because the firn tempo rarily stores water and thereby smooths out variations in the supply rate in the firn free ablation zone in con trast the flux of water into the glacier depends directly on the rate of surface melt or rainfall and therefore varies greatly in time water moves from the surface to the bed through an upward branching arborescent net work consisting of both steeply inclined conduits formed by the enlargement of intergranular veins and gently inclined conduits spawned by water flow along the bottoms of near surface fractures crevasses engla cial drainage conduits deliver water to the glacier bed at a limited number of points probably a long distance downglacier of where water enters the glacier englacial conduits supplied from the accumulation zone are quasi steady state features that convey the slowly varying water flux delivered via the firn their size adjusts so that they are usually full of water and flow is pressurized in contrast water flow in englacial conduits supplied from the ablation area is pressurized only near times of peak daily flow or during rainstorms flow is otherwise in an open channel configuration the subglacial drainage system typically consists of several elements that are distinct both morphologically and hydrologically an up glacier branching arborescent network of channels in cised into the basal ice conveys water rapidly much of the water flux to the bed probably enters directly into the arborescent channel network which covers only a small fraction of the glacier bed more extensive spatially is a nonarborescent network which commonly includes cav ities gaps between the glacier sole and bed channels incised into the bed and a layer of permeable sediment the nonarborescent network conveys water slowly and is usually poorly connected to the arborescent system the arborescent channel network largely collapses during winter but reforms in the spring as the first flush of meltwater to the bed destabilizes the cavities within the nonarborescent network the volume of water stored by a glacier varies diurnally and seasonally small temper ate alpine glaciers seem to attain a maximum seasonal water storage of 200 mm of water averaged over the area of the glacier bed with daily fluctuations of as much as 20 30 mm the likely storage capacity of subglacial cavities is insufficient to account for estimated stored water volumes so most water storage may actually occur englacially stored water may also be released abruptly and catastrophically in the form of outburst floods

detecting and characterising an englacial conduit network within a temperate swiss glacier using active seismic ground penetrating radar and borehole analysis englacial hydrology plays an important role in routing surface water to the glacier s bed and it consequently affects the glacier s dynamics however it is often difficult to observe englacial conduit conditions on temperate glaciers because of their short lived nature we acquired repeated active surface seismic data over the rhone glacier switzerland to monitor and characterise englacial conduit conditions amplitude versus angle analysis suggested that the englacial conduit is water filled and between 0 5 and 4 m thick a grid of gpr profiles acquired during the 2018 melt season showed the englacial conduit network persisting and covering 14 000 m 2 in late summer 2018 several boreholes were drilled into the conduit network we observed generally stable water pressure but there were also short sudden increases a borehole camera provided images of a fast flowing englacial stream transporting sediment through the conduit from these observations we infer that the englacial conduit network is fed by surface meltwater and morainal streams the surface and morainal streams merge together enter the glacier subglacially and flow through subglacial channels along the flank these subglacial channels flow into highly efficient englacial conduits traversing the up glacier section of the overdeepening before connecting with the subglacial drainage system

subseasonal changes observed in subglacial channel pressure size and sediment transport water that pressurizes the base of glaciers and ice sheets enhances glacier velocities and modulates glacial erosion predicting ice flow and erosion therefore requires knowledge of subglacial channel evolution which remains observationally limited here we demonstrate that detailed analysis of seismic ground motion caused by subglacial water flow at mendenhall glacier alaska allows for continuous measurement of daily to subseasonal changes in basal water pressure gradient channel size and sediment transport we observe intermittent subglacial water pressure gradient changes during the melt season at odds with common assumptions of slowly varying low pressure channels these observations indicate that changes in channel size do not keep pace with changes in discharge this behavior strongly affects glacier dynamics and subglacial channel erosion at mendenhall glacier where episodic periods of high water pressure gradients enhance glacier surface velocity and channel sediment transport by up to 30 and 50 respectively we expect the application of this framework to future seismic observations acquired at glaciers worldwide to improve our understanding of subglacial processes

investigations of glacier hydrological systems using dye tracer techniques observations at pasterzengletscher austria a l aide de traceurs colores on a mis en evidence une division laterale du drainage dans le bas de la langue qui n est pas determinee par la direction des crevasses obliques la reapparition de l eau dans les differents moulins est complexe bien qu elle reste constante dans le temps

evolution of drainage system morphology at a land terminating greenlandic outlet glacier 1 the influence of meltwater on the dynamics and geomorphic impact of the greenland ice sheet is strongly controlled by the morphology of the ice sheet s drainage system however this system and its evolution through the melt season remain poorly understood here we present the results of an intensive programme of dye tracing experiments undertaken along the lower 14 km of a land terminating greenlandic outlet glacier over a period of four months during the 2010 melt season these data are interpreted in conjunction with observations of proglacial discharge englacial water storage surface melt rates and ice velocity to produce a detailed picture of the changing hydrology of the glacier following the onset of melt in the spring inputs to the drainage system regularly exceed outputs causing the englacial water level to rise to the ice sheet surface during this time there is a rapid transition from distributed to channelized drainage in those parts of the drainage system closed by ice deformation over winter as the melt season progresses channel efficiency increases and englacial storage and ice velocity decrease high velocity events continue to be observed following the channelization of the drainage system however indicating that hydrological forcing of ice velocity occurs despite the existence of channels during periods when meltwater inputs exceed the capacity of the subglacial drainage system

sedimentation in a drumlin lee side subglacial wave cavity northwest ireland abstract lee side stratification sequences in a late pleistocene drumlin in northwest ireland are used to assess sedimentation patterns in subglacial wave cavities formed on the lee sides of drumlins three major subglacial cavity sub environments are identified 1 high energy divergent trough like closed conduit characterised by channel fill pebbly sand facies 2 low energy closed conduit characterised by alternating sand silts 3 trough margin dominated by stratified diamicts facies arrangements suggest two major transient states reflecting variations in subglacial meltwater flux the active phase showed meltwater flow directed across the drumlin apex suggesting complete uncoupling from the glacier bed supercavitation as flow velocities waned pebbly sand facies were deposited by in situ freezing of within conduit sediment admixtures the later quiescent phase was characterised by meltwater flow directed transverse to ice flow cavity shrinkage and concomitant deposition of subglacial sheetwash and cohesive sediment flows along cavity margins cavity closure resulted in complete coupling at the ice substrate interface with localised glaciotectonic loading on underlying lee side stratification sequences and concomitant till deposition these late stage sedimentation events at shinnan hill produced a very complex polygene endform which cannot be simply attributed to one formative process more realistically they reflect the influence of a rather complex and very dynamic subglacial system subject to complex spatial and temporal variations in subglacial erosion deposition and meltwater flux at the time of drumlinisation

combined measurements of subglacial water pressure and surface velocity of findelengletscher switzerland conclusions about drainage system and sliding mechanism interpretation des mesures de pression dans les forages et des vitesses superficielles la comparaison avec les modeles suggere que l on a neglige le frottement du aux debris dans les modeles et qu il n existe jamais de chenaux cylindriques rectilignes