fracture propagation to the base of the greenland ice sheet during supraglacial lake drainage surface meltwater that reaches the base of an ice sheet creates a mechanism for the rapid response of ice flow to climate change the process whereby such a pathway is created through thick cold ice has not however been previously observed we describe the rapid 2 hours drainage of a large supraglacial lake down 980 meters through to the bed of the greenland ice sheet initiated by water driven fracture propagation evolving into moulin flow drainage coincided with increased seismicity transient acceleration ice sheet uplift and horizontal displacement subsidence and deceleration occurred over the subsequent 24 hours the short lived dynamic response suggests that an efficient drainage system dispersed the meltwater subglacially the integrated effect of multiple lake drainages could explain the observed net regional summer ice speedup

relating the occurrence of crevasses to surface strain rates the presence of crevasses on the surface of ice masses indicates that a fracture criterion has been met understanding how crevasses form will provide information about the stress and strain rate fields in the ice this study derives a relationship between measurements of strain rate and observations of crevassing on the surface of ice masses a literature search yielded 17 polar and alpine locations where strain rates had been measured and crevassing recorded by plotting strain rates converted to stresses using a creep law using axes representing the surface parallel principal stresses failure envelopes were derived by enclosing measurements where surface crevassing was absent the derived failure envelopes were found to conform well to theoretical ones predicted by the coulomb and the maximum octahedral shear stress von mises theories of failure the derived failure envelopes were scaled by the tensile strength which was found to vary from 90 to 320 kpa there was no systematic variation of tensile strength with either temperature at 10 m depth or the method used to locate the crevasses the observed variation in tensile strength could result from variations in ice properties e g crystal size impurity content or density or could be related to uncertainty in the constitutive relation creep flow and fracture share a very similar temperature dependence suggesting similar crystal scale processes are responsible for both the observed relationship will provide a supplementary tool with which to verify and test models of ice dynamics against remotely sensed imagery the study also indicates that a temperature rise of a few degrees throughout the ice column will not result directly in any increase in calving rates from the large antarctic ice shelves such as the filchner ronne or ross ice shelves

greenland ice sheet motion coupled with daily melting in late summer 1 we use ground based and satellite observations to detect large diurnal and longer period variations in the flow of the greenland ice sheet gris during late summer that are strongly coupled with changes in its surface hydrology the diurnal signals are associated with periodic changes in surface melting and the longer period signals are associated with the episodic drainage of supra glacial lakes ice velocity doubles around 2 hours after peak daily melting and returns approximately to wintertime levels around 12 hours afterwards demonstrating an intimate link between the surface and basal hydrology during late summer the ice sheet accelerates by 35 per positive degree day of melting the observed link between surface melting and enhanced flow is typical of alpine glaciers which may provide an appropriate analogue for the evolution of the gris in a warming climate

characterizing englacial drainage in the ablation zone of the greenland ice sheet rapid local drainage of surface meltwater to the base of the greenland ice sheet is thought to result in surface velocity variations as far inland as the equilibrium zone zwally and others 2002 ice penetrating radar surveys throughout this region allow us to characterize englacial drainage features that appear as vertically stacked diffraction hyperbolae in common offset profiles these data are used with a radar simulation model which allows for variations in geometry penetration depth and infill material to understand the characteristics of these hyperbolae and the likelihood that they are produced by moulins we find only a moderate correlation between the locations of these possible moulins and supraglacial lakes indicating that many lakes drain over the surface of the ice sheet or do not contain sufficient water to reach the bed through moulin formation we find a strong correlation between moulin location in the ablation region and elevated along flow tension due to flow over rough bedrock which generates surface crevassing and provides an entry point for meltwater although theory suggests that moulins may form anywhere on the ice sheet given sufficient meltwater input our data suggest that they are far more common in the ablation zone than near or inland from the equilibrium line

spatial and temporal variability in the snowpack of a high arctic ice cap implications for mass change measurements interpretation of ice mass elevation changes observed by satellite altimetry demands quantification of the proportion of elevation change which is attributable to variations in firn densification detailed stratigraphic logging of snowpack structure and density was carried out at 1k m intervals along a 47 km transect on devon ice cap canada in spring pre melt and autumn during after melt 2004 and 2006 to characterize seasonal snowpack variability across the full range of snow facies simultaneous meteorological measurements were gathered spring pre melt snowpacks show low variability over large spatial scales with low magnitude changes in density the end of summer autumn density profiles show high variability in both 2004 and 2006 with vastly different melt regimes generating dissimilar patterns of ice layer formation over the two melt seasons dye tracing experiments from spring to autumn 2006 reveal that vertical and horizontal distribution of meltwater flow within and below the annual snowpack is strongly affected by the pre existing often subtle stratigraphic interfaces in the snowpack rather than its bulk properties strong interannual variability suggests that using a simple relationship between air temperature elevation and snowpack densification to derive mass change from measurements of elevation change across high arctic ice caps may be misguided melt timing and duration are important extrinsic factors governing snowpack densification and ice layer formation in summer rather than averaged air temperatures

first evidence of a lake at ancient phaistos messara plain south central crete greece reconstructing paleoenvironments and differentiating the roles of human land use and paleoclimate from minoan to roman times phaistos was one of the most important minoan palaces in crete and previous studies have addressed its relationship with the paleo seashore position during historical times here we reconstruct the environmental evolution of phaistos from early minoan to roman times study of two stratigraphic sections and nine boreholes drilled in the westernmost part of the messara plain has revealed the stratigraphy of the mid to late holocene sediments laboratory analyses comprise granulometry magnetic susceptibility measurements and identification of mollusks diatoms and pollen grains eighteen radiocarbon dates provide a robust chronostratigraphy in addition a geophysical survey electric resistivity tomography ert method was conducted to reveal the sub surface morphology in the coring area the results reveal that a freshwater lake existed from ca 2100 2000 bc to ca 1200 1100 bc which subsequently became swampland until ca 700 bc a lake retreat is identified at ca 1200 1000 bc and can be interpreted as resulting from the 3 2 cal kyr bp rapid climate change rcc dry event observed elsewhere in the eastern mediterranean subsequently from the 7th to the 5th century bc there was the input of detrital material and fluvial dynamics prevailed until at least roman times the origin of the lake and its disappearance are discussed in the context of regional climate change and local tectonic activity without excluding possible human influences we also reconstruct the vegetation history for the period from the late minoan to the early archaic period pollen analysis reveals a mediterranean maquis landscape dominated by olea together with hygrophilous vegetation and highlights a clear transition from limnic to swampy environmental conditions around 1100 bc the pollen sequence is also important for assessing the impact of the 3 2 cal kyr bp rcc event and for assessing the possibility of an abrupt discontinuity in human activity around phaistos after the demise of the minoan civilization

a hydrologically coupled higher order flow band model of ice dynamics with a coulomb friction sliding law 1 the influence of hydrologic transience and heterogeneity on basal motion is an often neglected aspect of numerical ice flow models we present a flow band model of glacier dynamics with a coulomb friction sliding law that is coupled to a model of the basal drainage system by means of subglacial water pressure the ice flow model contains higher order stress gradients from the stokes flow approximation originally conceived by blatter 1995 the resulting system of nonlinear equations is solved using a modified picard iteration that is shown to improve the rate of convergence a parameterization of lateral shearing is included to account for the effects of three dimensional geometry we find that lateral drag has a discernible effect on glacier speed even when glacier width exceeds glacier length variations in flow band width are shown to have a greater influence on flow line speed than either different valley cross sectional shapes or the presence or absence of glacier sliding along valley walls modeled profiles of subglacial water pressure depart significantly from pressures prescribed as a uniform fraction of overburden thus producing profiles of glacier sliding that are distinctly different from those that would be described by a sliding law controlled by overburden pressures simulations of hydraulically driven glacier acceleration highlight the value of including a representation of basal hydrology in models aiming for improved predictive capability of glacier dynamics

numerical modelling and data assimilation of the larsen b ice shelf antarctic peninsula in this study the flow and rheology of pre collapse larsen b ice shelf are investigated by using a combination of flow modelling and data assimilation observed shelf velocities from satellite interferometry are used to constrain an ice shelf model by using a data assimilation technique based on the control method in particular the ice rheology field and the velocities at the inland shelf boundary are simultaneously optimized to get a modelled flow and stress field that is consistent with the observed flow the application to the larsen b ice shelf shows that a strong weakening of the ice in the shear zones mostly along the margins is necessary to fit the observed shelf flow this pattern of bands with weak ice is a very robust feature of the inversion whereas the ice rheology within the main shelf body is found to be not well constrained this suggests that these weak zones play a major role in the control of the flow of the larsen b ice shelf and may be the key to understanding the observed pre collapse thinning and acceleration of larsen b regarding the sensitivity of the stress field to rheology the consistency of the model with the observed flow seems crucial for any further analysis such as the application of fracture mechanics or perturbation model experiments

form and flow of the devon island ice cap canadian arctic 1 in this study 3370 km of 100 mhz ice penetrating radar data were acquired from devon ice cap arctic canada bed returns were obtained from 90 of flight tracks mean crossing point errors in ice surface elevation and ice thickness were 7 8 m digital elevation models of ice cap surface and bed elevation and ice thickness were produced and can be used as boundary conditions in numerical modeling devon ice cap including 1960 km2 of contiguous stagnant ice to its west is 14 010 km2 the ice cap proper is 12 050 km2 its largest drainage basin is 2630 km2 the ice cap crest has a maximum measured elevation of 1921 m maximum recorded ice thickness is 880 m ice cap volume is 3980 km3 about 10 mm sea level equivalent the bed 8 of which lies below sea level is an upland plateau dissected by steep sided valleys that control the locations of the major outlet glaciers which dominate ice cap drainage about 73 km 4 of the ice cap margin ends in tidewater the margin is not floating icebergs of 100 m were observed offshore only a single outlet glacier showed signs of past surge activity all major outlet glaciers along the eastern ice cap margin have retreated 1 3 km since 1960 synthetic aperture radar interferometic velocity structure shows slow undifferentiated flow predominating in the west and center with fast flowing outlet glaciers and intervening slow flowing ridges typical elsewhere outlet glacier velocities are 7 10 times higher than in areas of undifferentiated flow this velocity structure of fast flowing units within slower flowing ice appears typical of many large 103 km2 arctic ice caps

implications of increased greenland surface melt under global warming scenarios ice sheet simulations abstract the greenland ice sheet is likely to make a faster contribution to sea level rise in a warming world than previously believed based on numerical modelling using a parameterization of recent results showing surface meltwater lubrication of ice flow zwally et al science 297 557 2002 218 documented correlation between increased ice velocity and increased surface melt as parameterized by positive degree days they argued that surface water is piped directly to the bed with little delay causing increased basal water pressures and basal sliding velocities an effect not included in recent greenland ice sheet models known to the authors using the pennsylvania state university university of chicago thermomechanical flowline model numerous simulations were conducted to test a wide range of parameter space linking surface melt with a new sliding law based on the zwally et al data under three different global warming scenarios 2 co2 4 co2 and 8 co2 comparisons to reconstructions generated with a traditional sliding parameterization illustrate an enhanced sensitivity of the ice sheet to surface warming resulting in higher ablation rates additional thinning and retreat of the margin and a reduction in ice volume leading to an increased contribution to global sea level rise

intra annual and intra seasonal flow dynamics of a high arctic polythermal valley glacier measurements of surface dynamics onpolythermaljohn evans glacier nunavut canada over two winter periods and every 7 10 days throughout two melt seasons june july 2000 2001 provide new insight into spatio temporal patterns of high arctic glacier dynamics in the lower ablation zone mean annual surface velocities are 10 21ma 1 but peak velocities up to 50 higher are attained during latejune earlyjuly in the upper ablation zone and lower accumulation zone mean annual surface velocities are typically10 18ma 1 and peak velocities up to 40 higher occur during latejuly in the upper accumulation zone mean annual surface velocities are 2 9ma 1 and motion in mid to latejuly exceeds this by up to 10 rapid drainage of ponded supraglacial water in the upper ablation zone to an initially distributed subglacial drainage system in mid june may force excess surface motion in the warm based lower glacier the data indicate thatthe durationof the velocity response maybe relatedto the rate of channeliz ation of the basal drainage and the velocity response may be transmitted up glacier by longitudinal coupling an increase in surface velocities in the middle glacier in latejuly occurs in conjunction with the opening of two further moulins in the accumulation zone

modelling the delivery of supraglacial meltwater to the ice bed interface application to southwest devon ice cap nunavut canada the transfer of surface generated meltwater to the subglacial drainage system through full ice thickness crevassing may lead to accelerated glacier velocities with implications for ice motion under future climatic scenarios accurate predictions of where surface meltwater accesses the ice bed interface are therefore needed in fully coupled hydrodynamic ice sheet models we present a spatially distributed modelling routine for predicting the location and timing of delivery of surface derived meltwater to the ice bed interface through moulins and supraglacial lake drainage the model is explained as it is applied to the croker bay glacial catchment of devon ice cap canada the formation of moulins drainage of lakes and the transfer of meltwater through the full ice thickness are modelled for the 2004 and 2006 ablation seasons through this case study we assess the model s sensitivity to degree day factors fracture toughness tensile strength and crevasse width and confirm that parameters influencing the rate at which water fills a crevasse are the most significant controls on the ability of a crevasse to reach the bed increased surface melt production therefore has the potential to significantly influence the spatial and temporal transfer of meltwater through surface to bed connections in a warmer climate

experimental and theoretical fracture mechanics applied to antarctic ice fracture and surface crevassing recent disintegration of ice shelves on the antarctic peninsula has highlighted the need for a better understanding of ice shelf fracture processes generally in this paper we present a fracture criterion incorporating new experimental fracture data coupled with an ice shelf flow model to predict the spatial distribution of surface crevassing on the filchner ronne ice shelf we have developed experiments that have enabled us to quantify for the first time quasi stable crack growth in antarctic ice core specimens using a fracture initiation toughness kinit for which crack growth commences the tests cover a full range of near surface densities 560 871 kg m 3 10 9 75 7 m depth results indicate an apparently linear dependence of fracture toughness on porosity such that kinit 0 257 80 7 predicting a zero porosity toughness of ko 155 kpa m1 2 we have used this data to test the applicability to crevassing of a two dimensional fracture mechanics criterion for the propagation of a small sharp crack in a biaxial stress field the growth of an initial flaw into a larger crevasse which involves a purely tensile crack opening depends on the size of the flaw the magnitude of kinit and the nature of the applied stress field by incorporating the criterion into a stress map of the filchner ronne ice shelf derived from a depth integrated finite element model of the strain rate field we have been able to predict regions of potential crevassing these agree well with satellite imagery provided an initial flaw size is assumed in the range 5 50 cm

remote sounding of greenland supraglacial melt lakes implications for subglacial hydraulics a supraglacial lake depth retrieval function is developed based on the correspondence between moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer modis reflectance and water depth measured during raft surveys individual lake depth area and volume statistics including short term temporal changes for greenland s southwestern ablation region were compiled for 2000 05 the maximum area of an individual lake was found to be 8 9 km 2 the maximum volume 53 0 10 6 m 3 and the maximum depth 12 2 m sampling over 0 0625 km 2 pixel areas the total lake volume reaches 1 km 3 in this region by july each year the importance of melt lake reservoirs to greenland ice sheet flow may be a feedback between abrupt lake drainage events and ice dynamics lake outburst volumes up to 31 5 10 6 m 3 d 1 are capable of providing sufficient water via moulins to hydraulically pressurize the subglacial environment since the overburden pressure at the base of a flooded moulin is greater than that provided by ice lake outburst events seem capable of exerting sufficient upward force to lift the ice sheet locally if water flow in the subglacial environment is constrained laterally considering a moulin with a 10 m 2 cross sectional area basal pressurization can be maintained over lake outburst

surface melt induced acceleration of greenland ice sheet flow ice flow at a location in the equilibrium zone of the west central greenland ice sheet accelerates above the midwinter average rate during periods of summer melting the near coincidence of the ice acceleration with the duration of surface melting followed by deceleration after the melting ceases indicates that glacial sliding is enhanced by rapid migration of surface meltwater to the ice bedrock interface interannual variations in the ice acceleration are correlated with variations in the intensity of the surface melting with larger increases accompanying higher amounts of summer melting the indicated coupling between surface melting and ice sheet flow provides a mechanism for rapid large scale dynamic responses of ice sheets to climate warming

thirty seven year mass balance of devon ice cap nunavut canada determined by shallow ice coring and melt modeling 1 in april may 2000 eight boreholes were drilled to 15 20 m depth on the devon ice cap 137cs activity profiles of each borehole showed a peak count rate at depth that is associated with fallout from atmospheric thermonuclear weapons testing in 1963 snow firn and ice densities were measured at each core site and were used to estimate the average pattern of mass balance across the accumulation zone of the ice cap over the period 1963 2000 the average mass balance across the entire ice cap for the period 1960 2000 was also estimated using a degree day model driven by data derived from on ice temperature sensors and long term measurements at resolute bay best fitting degree day factors were determined for different sectors of the ice cap by comparing model output with repeated annual mass balance measurements made along two transects koerner 1970 the results suggest that the ice cap has lost 1 6 km3 water per year equivalent to a mean net mass balance of approximately 0 13 m we a 1 estimates of the mean mass balance for individual drainage basins reveal regions of positive and negative mass balance that are consistent with remotely sensed observations of advancing and retreating ice cap margins respectively

experimental fracture and mechanical properties of antarctic ice preliminary results an experimental study of the fracture mechanics and rheology of ice from the ronne ice shelf antarctica is currently being undertaken the apparent critical stress intensity factor or apparent fracture toughness k q for crack propagation has been measured using a three point bend method for inducing crack growth perpendicular to the axis of cylindrical ice core specimens tensile crack nucleation under applied uniaxial compressive stress has also been evaluated both methods have allowed a profile of ice elastic and fracture properties with depth through the ice shelf to be constructed preliminary results indicate that the measured elastic modulus increases with depth through the firn and upper meteoric ice before reaching a constant value in the deeper dense meteoric and basal marine ice the resistance to fracture as measured by changes in apparent fracture toughness and crack nucleation stress increases with depth right through the firn and meteoric ice layers a simple fracture mechanics model applied to the ronne ice shelf indicates that crevasses form from small surface cracks less than 40 cm deep which quickly grow to depths of 40 60m and then remain stable

supraglacial forcing of subglacial drainage in the ablation zone of the greenland ice sheet 1 we measure hydrological parameters in meltwater draining from an outlet glacier in west greenland to investigate seasonal changes in the structure and behaviour of the hydrological system of a large catchment in the greenland ice sheet gris our data reveal seasonal upglacier expansion and increase in hydraulic efficiency of the subglacial drainage system across a catchment 600 km2 to distances 50 km from the ice sheet margin this expansion occurs episodically in response to the drainage of surface meltwaters into a hitherto inefficient subglacial drainage system as new input locations become active progressively further upglacier this system is similar to alpine glaciers these observations provide the first synopsis of seasonal hydrological behaviour in the ablation zone of the gris

flow dynamics and iceberg calving rates of devon ice cap nunavut canada the surface velocity field of devon ice cap nunavut canada was mapped using interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar ascending european remote sensing satellite 1 and 2 ers 1 2 tandem mode data were used for the western and southeast sectors and 3 day repeat pass ers 1 imagery for the northeast sector speckle tracking procedures were used with radarsat 1 imagery to obtain surface velocities over the terminus of belcher glacier a major calving front where decorrelation between ers data occurred the insar data highlight a significant contrast in ice flow dynamics between the east and west sides of the ice cap ice movement west of the main north south divide is dominated by relatively uniform sheet flow but three fast flowing outlet glaciers that extend 14 23 km beyond the ice cap margin also drain this region several outlet glaciers that extend up to 60km inland from the eastern margin drain the eastern side of the ice cap the dominant ice flow regimes were classified based on the relationship between the driving stress averaged over a length scale often ice thicknesses and the ratio of surface velocity to ice thickness the mapped distribution of flow regimes appears to depict the spatial extent of basal sliding across the ice cap this is supported by a close relationship between the occurrence of flow stripes on the ice surface and flow regimes where basal sliding was found to be an important component of the glacier motion iceberg calving rates were computed using measured surface velocities and ice thicknesses derived from airborne radio echo sounding the volume of ice calved between 1960 and 1999 was estimated to be 20 5 4 7 km 3 or 0 57km 3 a 1 approximately 89 of this loss occurred along the eastern margin the largest single source is belcher glacier which accounts for 50 of the total amount of ice calved

crevasses triggered on pine island glacier west antarctica by drilling through an exceptional melt layer the basic theory of crevasse formation suggests that crevasses initiate at or near the surface however due to variations in stress with depth it has been suggested that it is possible for crevasses to initiate at depths of 10 30 m from december 2006 to january 2007 hot water drilling on pine island glacier west antarctica was found to trigger crevasses satellite imagery and field investigations in 2008 including ice cores radar and gps revealed that these formed a new band of arcuate curvilinear crevasses around 70 km long and 100 m deep this new band is located 10 km upstream from the previous limit of the arcuate crevasse zone the crevasses were triggered on drilling through an exceptional ice layer at 20 m depth ice layers within the firn will change both the strength and stress intensity as the firn changes spatially and temporally e g with the burial of an ice layer it is possible for the position of crevasse initiation to change whilst the along stream strain rate profile remains constant however the main cause of an upstream migration of the arcuate crevasse zone on pine island glacier is still likely to be an increase in strain rate

the glacially overdeepened trough of the salzach valley austria bedrock geometry and sedimentary fill of a major alpine subglacial basin abstract overdeepened valleys are unambiguous features of glacially sculpted landscapes they result from erosion at the bed of the glacier and their size and shape is determined by ice dynamics and the characteristics of the underlying bedrock major overdeepened valleys representing vertical bedrock erosion of several hundreds of meters are characteristic features of many trunk valleys in the formerly glaciated parts of the alpine mountain belt the thick sedimentary fill usually hinders attempts to unravel bedrock geometry formation history and fill characteristics based on reflection seismic data and core logs from multiple deep drillings we construct a detailed bedrock model of the lower salzach valley trough one of the largest overdeepened valleys in the european alps the analysed overdeepened structure characterized by a strongly undulating topography two reaches of enhanced erosion can be identified and are suggested to be related to variations in bedrock erodibility and a triple glacier confluence the sedimentary fill shows clear characteristics of rapid infilling and subaqueous fan delta deposits indicate a strong influence of tributary streams associated surface lowering of the valley floor had a major impact on tributary stream incision but also on the available ice accumulation area at subsequent glaciations the extent to which fills of earlier glaciations have been preserved from erosion during the last glacial maximum remains ambiguous and demands further exploration to our knowledge the presented bedrock model is one of the best defined of any major overdeepened trunk valley

melt induced speed up of greenland ice sheet offset by efficient subglacial drainage fluctuations in surface melting are known to affect the speed of glaciers and ice sheets but their impact on the greenland ice sheet in a warming climate remains uncertain although some studies suggest that greater melting produces greater ice sheet acceleration others have identified a long term decrease in greenland s flow despite increased melting here we use satellite observations of ice motion recorded in a land terminating sector of southwest greenland to investigate the manner in which ice flow develops during years of markedly different melting although peak rates of ice speed up are positively correlated with the degree of melting mean summer flow rates are not because glacier slowdown occurs on average when a critical run off threshold of about 1 4 centimetres a day is exceeded in contrast to the first half of summer when flow is similar in all years speed up during the latter half is 62 16 per cent less in warmer years consequently in warmer years the period of fast ice flow is three times shorter and overall summer ice flow is slower this behaviour is at odds with that expected from basal lubrication alone instead it mirrors that of mountain glaciers where melt induced acceleration of flow ceases during years of high melting once subglacial drainage becomes efficient a model of ice sheet flow that captures switching between cavity and channel drainage modes is consistent with the run off threshold fast flow periods and later summer speeds we have observed simulations of the greenland ice sheet flow under climate warming scenarios should account for the dynamic evolution of subglacial drainage a simple model of basal lubrication alone misses key aspects of the ice sheet s response to climate warming

a multicomponent coupled model of glacier hydrology 2 application to trapridge glacier yukon canada 1 a new glaciohydraulic model is tailored to trapridge glacier yukon canada where long term measurements of subglacial water pressure provide parameter constraints and a platform for model evaluation using digital elevation models and meteorological data as input we investigate hydrology on diurnal and seasonal timescales quantitative comparisons of simulated and observed pressure records allow us to select a reference model objectively from which we gain first insights into the gross spatial characteristics of the drainage system equilibrium simulations highlight target areas for water storage and potential sticky spots both of which have established relevance to glacier dynamics seasonal simulations capture the key signatures of spring and autumn transitions and corroborate our understanding of the processes involved successfully modeled features of the spring transition include increased hydraulic coupling between the surface and bed with time temporary augmentation of subglacial storage and rapid subglacial transitions from a hydraulically unconnected to connected state autumn transitions are characterized by deterioration of the basal drainage network drawdown of subglacial storage reservoirs and heightened sensitivity to precipitation and surface refreezing finally we draw attention to the important role of groundwater transport in cold glacial environments where permafrost can impede drainage from the ice margin

fracture propagation as means of rapidly transferring surface meltwater to the base of glaciers 1 propagation of water filled crevasses through glaciers is investigated based on the linear elastic fracture mechanics approach a crevasse will penetrate to the depth where the stress intensity factor at the crevasse tip equals the fracture toughness of glacier ice a crevasse subjected to inflow of water will continue to propagate downward with the propagation speed controlled primarily by the rate of water injection while the far field tensile stress and fracture toughness determine where crevasses can form once initiated the rate of water driven crevasse propagation is nearly independent of these two parameters thus rapid transfer of surface meltwater to the bed of a cold glacier requires abundant ponding at the surface to initiate and sustain full thickness fracturing before refreezing occurs

cross shore surfzone tracer dispersion in an alongshore current 1 cross shore surfzone tracer dispersion in a wave driven alongshore current is examined over a range of wave and current conditions with 6 continuous dye releases each roughly 1 2 hours in duration at huntington beach california fluorescent dye tracer released near the shoreline formed shore parallel plumes that were sampled on repeated cross shore transects with a jet ski mounted fluorometer ensemble averaged cross shore tracer concentration profiles are generally shoreline attached maximum at or near the shoreline with increasing cross shore widths and decreasing peak values with downstream distance more than a few 100 m from the source tracer is often well mixed across the surfzone i e saturated with decreasing tracer concentrations farther seaward for each release cross shore surfzone absolute diffusivities are estimated using a simple fickian diffusion solution with a no flux boundary at the shoreline and range from 0 5 2 5 m2 s 1 surfzone diffusivity scalings based on cross shore bore dispersion surfzone eddy mixing length and undertow driven shear dispersion are examined the mixing length scaling has correlation r2 0 59 and the expected best fit slope 1 indicating that horizontal rotational motions are important for cross shore tracer dispersion in the surfzone

large and rapid melt induced velocity changes in the ablation zone of the greenland ice sheet continuous global positioning system observations reveal rapid and large ice velocity fluctuations in the western ablation zone of the greenland ice sheet within days ice velocity reacts to increased meltwater production and increases by a factor of 4 such a response is much stronger and much faster than previously reported over a longer period of 17 years annual ice velocities have decreased slightly which suggests that the englacial hydraulic system adjusts constantly to the variable meltwater input which results in a more or less constant ice flux over the years the positive feedback mechanism between melt rate and ice velocity appears to be a seasonal process that may have only a limited effect on the response of the ice sheet to climate warming over the next decades

seasonal evolution of subglacial drainage and acceleration in a greenland outlet glacier an acceleration of ice mass loss has been observed near the margin of the greenland ice sheet partly as a result of faster ice motion observations by gps receivers reveal high seasonal variability in ice motion with summer motion up to 220 higher than winter background levels the greenland ice sheet contains enough water to raise sea levels by 7 m however its present mass balance and future contribution to sea level rise is poorly understood1 accelerated mass loss has been observed near the ice sheet margin partly as a result of faster ice motion2 3 4 surface melt waters can reach the base of the ice sheet and enhance basal ice motion5 6 however the response of ice motion to seasonal variations in meltwater supply is poorly constrained both in space and time here we present ice motion data obtained with global positioning system receivers located along a 35 km transect at the western margin of the greenland ice sheet throughout a summer melt season our measurements reveal substantial increases in ice velocity during summer up to 220 above winter background values these speed up events migrate up the glacier over the course of the summer the relationship between melt and ice motion varies both at each site throughout the melt season and between sites we suggest that these patterns can be explained by the seasonal evolution of the subglacial drainage system similar to hydraulic forcing mechanisms for ice dynamics that have been observed at smaller glaciers

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

fracture toughness of ice and firn determined from the modified ring test the modified ring test is used to determine the fracture toughness of synthetic granular fresh water ice average density 0 891 mg m 3 and firn average density 0 605 mg m 3 from depths between 26 and 27 2 m in the e core of the greenland ice sheet project ii average fracture toughness is 145 7 kpam 1 2 for the manufactured ice and 108 6 kpa m 1 2 for the firn comparison between the ice and firn suggests that ice fracture toughness decreases with decreasing density i e increasing porosity suggesting lateral and vertical variations in the near surface fracture resistance of glaciers and ice sheets may be related to firn densification the modified ring test has many advantages over conventional notch based specimens in that complications which arise in notched specimens due to crack length loading rate notch acuity and specimen size effects are irrelevant for a modified ring specimen geometry