reassessment of net surface mass balance in antarctica abstract recent in situ measurements of surface mass balance and improved calculation techniques are used to produce an updated assessment of net surface mass balance over antarctica a new elevation model of antarctica derived from ers 1 satellite altimetry supplemented with conventional data was used to delineate the ice flow drainage basins across antarctica the areas of these basins were calculated using the recent digital descriptions of coastlines and grounding lines the delineation of drainage basins was achieved using an automatic procedure which gave similar results to earlier hand drawn catchment basins more than 1800 published and unpublished in situ measurements of net surface mass balance from antarctica were collated and then interpolated a net surface mass balance map was derived from passive microwave satellite data being employed as a forcing field to control the interpolation of the sparse in situ observations basinwide integrals of net surface mass balance were calculated using t

seismic measurements reveal a saturated porous layer beneath an active antarctic ice stream seismic reflection studies recently conducted on ice stream b part of the marine ice sheet of west antarctica show a metres thick layer immediately beneath the ice in which both compressional p and shear s wave speeds are very low these low wave speeds imply that the material in the layer is highly porous and is saturated with water at a high pore pressure from this and from arguments presented in an accompanying paper1 to the effect that the layer would be too weak to support the shear stress exerted by the overlying ice we conclude that the layer is deforming and that the ice stream probably moves principally by such deformation

ice streams as the arteries of an ice sheet their mechanics stability and significance ice streams are corridors of fast ice flow ca 0 8 km year within an ice sheet and are responsible for discharging the majority of the ice and sediment within them consequently like the arteries in our body their behaviour and stability is essential to the well being of an ice sheet ice streams may either be constrained by topography topographic ice streams or by areas of slow moving ice pure ice streams the latter show spatial and temporal patterns of variability that may indicate a potential for instability and are therefore of particular interest today pure ice streams are largely restricted to the siple coast of antarctica and these ice streams have been extensively investigated over the last 20 years this paper provides an introduction to this substantial body of research and describes the morphology dynamics and temporal behaviour of these contemporary ice streams before exploring the basal conditions that exist beneath them and the mechanisms that drive the fast flow within them the paper concludes by reviewing the potential of ice streams as unstable elements within ice sheets that may impact on the earth s dynamic system d 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

tidal forcing of basal seismicity of ice stream c west antarctica observed far inland the seismicity rate beneath the downglacier 85 km of ice stream c west antarctica is modulated by the tide the tide beneath the ross ice shelf modifies the force balance of the ice stream basal environment enough to change the rate of basal microearthquake generation by an order of magnitude this tidal forcing travels up the ice stream as an attenuating wave at approximately 1 6m s 1 and is detectable 85km from the grounding line we successfully model this behavior as an elastic ice stream underlain by a viscous substrate of viscosity and thickness hb and calculate that the substrate has an apparent stiffness hb of o 108 pa s m 1 this finding suggests that the conditions of the till layer at the bed of ice stream c are similar to those of ice stream b and that the reason for the recent stagnation of ice stream c is other than loss of till we further find that the ice stream at the grounding line is more strongly affected by ice shelf processes than by the basal shear stress

the latest cretaceous fauna with dinosaurs and mammals from the haţeg basin a historical overview abstract research on the uppermost cretaceous continental deposits with dinosaur remains from the ha eg basin has behind it a history of more than 110 years the first studies were by franz nopcsa 1877 1933 who published between 1897 and 1929 a series of notes and papers on this fauna including five monographs dedicated to the ha eg dinosaurs nopcsa described 10 vertebrate taxa including dinosaurs crocodilians and turtles from the ha eg basin out of which 6 are still valid he recognized the primitiveness and the small size of most of the taxa from the ha eg palaeofauna characters that he related to the isolated island environment within which this fauna lived for a long time span after nopcsa systematic research on the ha eg fauna was interrupted for many decades being resumed after 1977 when d grigorescu leading a small group of students in geology started to explore the deposits outcropping along the sibisel valley near s npetru village from where nopcsa made most of his collection of fossil bones since then the fieldwork continued every summer until now numerous remains of dinosaurs crocodiles and turtles being unearthed the list of the maastrichtian fauna from ha eg currently includes 56 taxa from all vertebrate classes more than half of the recorded taxa were discovered in micropalaeontological samples through screen washing the most spectacular discoveries made after 1977 include a large variety of small theropods several sites with dinosaur egg clutches one of these also yielding hatchling remains one of the largest pterosaurs in the world representing a new genus and species hatzegopteryx thambema and several taxa of multituberculate mammals studies of the ha eg fauna were not restricted to systematic palaeontology but also covered all the fields that contribute together to an accurate reconstruction of the environment within which the maastrichtian fauna existed this overview includes a list of contributors to the actual knowledge on the ha eg fauna during the last 30 years divided by fields of scientific interest

scolosaurus cutleri ornithischia ankylosauria from the upper cretaceous dinosaur park formation of alberta canada the synonymy of the ankylosaurid dinosaur scolosaurus with euoplocephalus has been widely accepted since the 1970s however scolosaurus cutleri exhibits differences which separate it from euoplocephalus tutus and dyoplosaurus acutosquameus although the holotype of euoplocephalus is fragmentary several other specimens can be reliably referred to this taxon and thus used for comparison scolosaurus differs from euoplocephalus in cervical half ring osteoderm and forelimb morphology scolosaurus differs from dyoplosaurus primarily in pelvic morphology and osteoderm shape recognition of scolosaurus as a valid taxon adds to the growing concept that the upper cretaceous ankylosaurid fauna of north america was more diverse than previously thought

binge purge oscillations of the laurentide ice sheet as a cause of the north atlantic s heinrich events ice rafted debris in sediment cores from the north atlantic suggests that the laurentide ice sheet lis periodically disgorged icebergs in brief but violent episodes which occurred approximately every 7 000 years here i propose that heinrich events i e what these episodes are called were caused by free oscillations in the flow of the laurentide ice sheet which arose because the floor of hudson bay and hudson strait is covered with soft unconsolidated sediment that forms a slippery lubricant when thawed the proposed heinrich event cycle has two phases the growth phase occurs when the sediment is frozen and the lis is stranded immobile on a rigid bed the volume of the lis slowly grows during this phase at a rate dictated by snow accumulation the purge phase occurs when the basal sediment thaws and a basally lubricated discharge pathway i e an ice stream such as those which occur in west antarctica today developes through hudson strait the volume of the lis rapidly equilibrates to the reduced basal friction during this phase by dumping icebergs into the labrador sea the periodicity t k sl2g 2 7000 years of the proposed heinrich event cycle is a function of the thermal conductivity and diffusivity of ice k and respectively the atmospheric sea level temperature sl in degrees celsius and the excess geothermal heat flux defined by g g k where is the atmospheric lapse rate and g is the geothermal heat flux agreement between the predicted t and the apparent periodicity implied by the marine record is the main virtue of the free oscillation mechanism i propose an alternative mechanism in which heinrich events are forced by periodic variations in external climate is implausible because periodic atmospheric temperature perturbations are strongly attenuated with depth in an ice sheet

numerical modelling of the laurentide ice sheet in the baffin island region the role of a cumberland sound ice stream a numerical model reconstruction was made of the northeastern laurentide ice sheet in the baffin island foxe basin region using geophysical terrestrial and marine geologic evidence for initial

satellite imagery of the onset of streaming flow of ice streams c and d west antarctica five overlapping landsat multispectral scanner satellite images of the interior of the west antarctic ice sheet were enhanced with principal component analysis high pass filtering and linear contrast stretching and merged into a mosaic by aligning surface features in the overlap areas the mosaic was registered to geodetic coordinates to an accuracy of about 1 km using the five scene centers as control points the onset of streaming flow of two tributaries of ice stream c and one tributary of ice stream d is visible in the mosaic the onset appears to occur within a relatively short distance less than the width of the ice stream typically at a subglacial topographic feature such as a step or ridge the ice streams extend farther up into the interior than previously mapped ice stream d starts about 150 km from the ice divide at an altitude of about 1500 m approximately halfway up the convex upward dome shape of the interior ice sheet ice stream d is relatively much longer than ice stream c possibly because ice stream d is currently active whereas ice stream c is currently inactive the grounded portion of the west antarctic ice sheet is perhaps best conceptualized as an ice sheet in which ice streams are embedded over most of its area with slow moving ice converging into fast moving ice streams in a widely distributed pattern much like that of streams and rivers in a hydrologic basin a relic margin appears to parallel most of the south margin of the tributary of ice stream d separated from the active shear margin by about 10 km or less for a distance of over 200 km this means there is now evidence for recent changes having occurred in three of the five major ice streams which drain most of west antarctica b c and d two of which b and d are currently active

bedform signature of a west antarctic palaeo ice stream reveals a multi temporal record of flow and substrate control abstract the presence of a complex bedform arrangement on the sea floor of the continental shelf in the western amundsen sea embayment west antarctica indicates a multi temporal record of flow related to the activity of one or more ice streams in the past mapping and division of the bedforms into distinct landform assemblages reveals their time transgressive history which implies that bedforms can neither be considered part of a single downflow continuum nor a direct proxy for palaeo ice velocity as suggested previously a main control on the bedform imprint is the geology of the shelf which is divided broadly between rough bedrock on the inner shelf and smooth dipping sedimentary strata on the middle to outer shelf inner shelf bedform variability is well preserved revealing information about local complex basal ice conditions meltwater flow and ice dynamics over time these details which are not apparent at the scale of regional morphological studies indicate that past ice streams flowed across the entire shelf at times and often had onset zones that lay within the interior of the antarctic ice sheet today in contrast highly elongated subglacial bedforms on sedimentary strata of the middle to outer shelf represent a timeslice snapshot of the last activity of ice stream flow and may be a truer representation of fast palaeo ice flow in these locations a revised model for ice streams on the shelf captures complicated multi temporal bedform patterns associated with an antarctic palaeo ice stream for the first time and confirms a strong substrate control on a major ice stream system that drained the west antarctic ice sheet during the late quaternary

physical conditions at the base of a fast moving antarctic ice stream boreholes drilled to the bottom of ice stream b in the west antarctic ice sheet reveal that the base of the ice stream is at the melting point and the basal water pressure is within about 1 6 bars of the ice overburden pressure these conditions allow the rapid ice streaming motion to occur by basal sliding or by shear deformation of unconsolidated sediments that underlie the ice in a layer at least 2 meters thick the mechanics of ice streaming plays a role in the response of the ice sheet to climatic change

first airborne gravity results over the thwaites glacier catchment west antarctica recent satellite observations of thwaites glacier in the amundsen sea embayment west antarctica have shown that the glacier is changing rapidly the causes of its dynamic behavior are uncertain but are of concern because this glacier has the most negative mass balance of all antarctic glaciers to better understand thwaites glacier s subglacial setting we conducted a multi instrumented aerogeophysical survey of its catchment and present here the first gravity results we employed a new gravimeter and it performed well despite extreme conditions and an unusual survey design the unleveled free air gravity anomalies have a 2 3 mgal rms error and a 9 km spatial resolution despite slightly higher than standard noise levels the free air anomalies correlate well with radar derived subglacial topography the new airborne gravity data assist in interpreting radar identified bedrock features and are an ideal basis for future studies of subglacial geology and its control on the dynamics of thwaites glacier

tributaries of west antarctic ice streams revealed by radarsat interferometry interferometric radarsat data are used to map ice motion in the source areas of four west antarctic ice streams the data reveal that tributaries coincident with subglacial valleys provide a spatially extensive transition between slow inland flow and rapid ice stream flow and that adjacent ice streams draw from shared source regions two tributaries flow into the stagnant ice stream c creating an extensive region that is thickening at an average rate of 0 49 meters per year this is one of the largest rates of thickening ever reported in antarctica

ice stream basal conditions from block wise surface data inversion and simple regression models of ice stream flow application to bindschadler ice stream 1 widespread basal conditions controlling ice stream flows are still beyond the scope of direct observation thus knowledge of their magnitudes and variabilities comes from inversion of surface measurements ice velocities surface elevations and thicknesses we present a new approach to implement a widely accepted inverse method on regular 10 10 km blocks smaller than the whole domain to enhance the spatial resolution of calculated basal conditions inverted basal friction coefficients and calculated shear stress have sharp transitions and large variations in small areas overall the obtained basal shear stress is very small in regions of fast flowing ice the results of the inversion along with the surface variables are used to construct two simple regression models of bindschadler ice stream former ice stream d that reproduce 96 of observed velocity variations while highly idealized these regression models are sufficiently informative to be considered as parameterizations for ice stream flow in large scale ice sheet models which lack the spatial and temporal resolution necessary to simulate ice stream dynamics in detail

west antarctic ice streams draining into the ross ice shelf configuration and mass balance extensive airborne radar soundings closely tied to accurately located ground stations made over a portion of the west antarctic inland ice sheet and the ross ice shelf have enabled us to map the boundaries of the ice streams and their flow bands on the ross ice shelf the surfaces of the active ice streams a and b are heavily crevassed but there are no visible crevasses on ice stream c however the existence of numerous crevasses at a depth of about 35 m implies that ice stream c ceased to be active about 250 years ago there is a complex zone at the head of ice stream b that suggests that ice stream b is currently widening and advancing toward the interior of the ice sheet the grounding lines between the inland ice and the ice shelf were mapped from the surface elevations using the requirement of hydrostatic balance and the character of the radar echoes the inland ice is more extensive than previously mapped and includes a large weakly grounded area downstream of ice streams a and b where the surface elevations are barely above hydrostatic equilibrium crary ice rise extends 70 km upstream of the previously mapped position to relate surface elevation data from satellite observations to sea level three geoidal models were tested we conclude that the gem 10c model is the best of the three for this section of antarctica a new map of surface elevation shows deep marginal troughs and longitudinal ridges along ice streams a and b but not on ice stream c whose surface contours show signs of stagnation ice stream c shows a strongly positive and ice stream b a significantly negative net balance rate ice streams a and d also show a significantly negative net flux whereas ice streams e and f do not the overall net balance of this part of the west antarctic inland ice is suggestively negative 23 15 km3 yr 1 from the measured flux into the ross ice shelf and previous measurements we calculate an average basal melt rate from beneath the ice shelf of 0 12 0 03 m yr 1

palaeo ice streams abstract the location and behaviour of ice streams is one of the most important controls on ice sheet configuration and stability in order to reconstruct former ice sheets we need to know ice stream location and timing once identified the beds of palaeo ice streams provide an unprecedented opportunity to glean information about their basal environment something that remains very difficult under contemporary ice streams this paper represents the first synthesis and discussion of palaeo ice stream research from a variety of former ice sheets and includes new insights relating their configuration and activity to the evidence they leave behind the ambiguous use of the term ice stream is addressed and four possible configurations for ice streams are presented diagnostic landforms and landform assemblages that we would expect an ice stream to produce are discussed and the temporal context of bedform generation is described as either a rubber stamped or smudged bedform imprint resulting from isochronous or time transgressive landform generation in particular we focus on the configuration of terrestrially terminating ice streams for which there are no modern analogues technological advances in marine geophysics are helping to generate a convergence of interest between antarctic glaciology and palaeo glaciology it is suggested that investigations around the fringes of contemporary ice sheets i e west antarctica can provide evidence that directly links the geomorphological record of palaeo ice streams with their contemporary counterparts in addition computational advances and modelling adaptations have permitted the incorporation of ice streams within ice sheet models we argue that data from palaeo ice stream beds are invaluable to ice sheet stream modelling experiments and will help us understand ice stream operation and the linkages between climate perturbations and both palaeo and contemporary ice sheets

influence of subglacial conditions on ice stream dynamics seismic and potential field data from pine island glacier west antarctica 1 we interpret seismic reflection and airborne potential field data acquired on pine island glacier west antarctica and find variations in the subglacial geology which correlate with variations in ice dynamics immediately beneath the glacier is a mixture of soft deforming sediments and harder non deforming sediments beneath this a sedimentary basin lies under part of the main glacier with another under one of its slower moving tributaries a tectonic boundary underlies the main trunk of the glacier separating these sedimentary basins to the north from crystalline rocks to the south which also include a thick rift related magmatic intrusion the boundary correlates with changes in the basal roughness ice flow speed and basal drag smoother bed faster flow and lower basal drag characterize the thicker sedimentary sequences to the north but there is no corresponding lateral change in the acoustic properties of the bed changes in the sub bed i e deeper than the ice bed interface lithology appear to account for the contrasting basal drag and ice velocity patterns over the glacier subglacial erosion could remove a thin layer of soft sediments to the south of the geological boundary leading to increased basal drag and reduced ice flow in the future we conclude that the subglacial geology plays a significant role in controlling the spatial pattern of present day ice flow and that the consequences of subglacial erosion may be reflected in temporal changes to the ice dynamics in the past and perhaps also in the near future

ice rafted debris associated with binge purge oscillations of the laurentide ice sheet the north atlantic sediment record suggests quasi periodic 7000 to 12 000 year period ice rafted debris ird depositions during at least the last glacial period the cause of these heinrich events as they are commonly known is not fully understood however they may point to surges of the ice stream that drained the hudson bay hudson strait region of the laurentide ice sheet we investigate a simple conceptual model of ice stream instability the binge purge model to suggest ways in which the ice stream could have entrained sufficient debris to account for the estimated mass of ird associated with a typical heinrich ird layer in the north atlantic 1 0 0 3 1015 kg we find that freezing of debris laden ice at the bed of the ice stream during the brief 750 years surge phase of the ice stream s hypothesized binge purge cycle can incorporate up to 5 1 1015 kg this amount is sufficient to meet the constraints of the north atlantic sediment record but by no means verifies the binge purge model as the cause of heinrich events

pleistocene collapse of the west antarctic ice sheet some glacial sediment samples recovered from beneath the west antarctic ice sheet at ice stream b contain quaternary diatoms and up to 108 atoms of beryllium 10 per gram other samples contain no quaternary diatoms and only background levels of beryllium 10 less than 10 6 atoms per gram the occurrence of young diatoms and high concentrations of beryllium 10 beneath grounded ice indicates that the ross embayment was an open marine environment after a late pleistocene collapse of the marine ice sheet

morphometry of bedrock meltwater channels on antarctic inner continental shelves implications for channel development and subglacial hydrology abstract expanding multibeam bathymetric data coverage over the last two decades has revealed extensive networks of submarine channels incised into bedrock on the antarctic inner continental shelf the large dimensions and prevalence of the channels implies the presence of an active subglacial hydrological system beneath the past antarctic ice sheet which we can use to learn more about inaccessible subglacial processes here we map and analyse over 2700 bedrock channels situated across 100 000 km2 of continental shelf in the western antarctic peninsula and amundsen sea to produce the first inventory of submarine channels on the antarctic inner continental shelf morphometric analysis reveals highly similar distributions of channel widths depths cross sectional areas and geometric properties with subtle differences between channels in the western antarctic peninsula compared to those in the amundsen sea at 75 3400 m wide 3 280 m deep 160 290 000 m2 in cross sectional area and typically 8 times as wide as they are deep the channels have similar morphologies to tunnel valleys and meltwater channel systems observed from other formerly glaciated landscapes despite differences in substrate geology and glaciological regime we propose that the antarctic bedrock channels formed over multiple glacial cycles through the episodic drainage of at least 59 former subglacial lakes identified on the inner continental shelf

sub catchment melt and long term stability of ice stream d west antarctica 1 the apparent long term persistence and short term variability of the siple coast ice streams of west antarctica are tied to regional thermal conditions and local basal lubrication numerical simulations indicate that the flux of latent heat in a throughgoing hydrologic system fed by melt beneath thick inland ice maintains the lubrication of fast moving modern and ice age ice streams despite their tendency to freeze to the bed and would allow additional thinning and grounding line retreat

exploring the ingredients required to successfully model the placement generation and evolution of ice streams in the british irish ice sheet abstract ice stream evolution is a major uncertainty in projections of the future of the greenland and antarctic ice sheets accurate simulation of ice stream evolution requires an understanding of a number of ingredients that control the location and behaviour of ice stream flow here we test the influence of geothermal heat flux grid resolution and bed hydrology on simulated ice streaming the palaeo record provides snapshots of ice stream evolution with a particularly well constrained ice sheet being the british irish ice sheet biis we implement a new basal sliding scheme coupled with thermo mechanics into the bisicles ice sheet model to simulate the evolution of the biis ice streams we find that the simulated location and spacing of ice streams matches well with the empirical reconstructions of ice stream flow in terms of position and direction when simple bed hydrology is included we show that the new basal sliding scheme allows the accurate simulation for the majority of biis ice streams the extensive empirical record of the biis has allowed the testing of model inputs and has helped demonstrate the skill of the ice sheet model in simulating the evolution of the location spacing and migration of ice streams through millennia simulated ice streams also prompt new empirical mapping of features indicative of streaming in the north channel region ice sheet model development has allowed accurate simulation of the palaeo record and allows for improved modelling of future ice stream behaviour

evidence for subglacial water transport in the west antarctic ice sheet through three dimensional satellite radar interferometry 1 radarsat data from the 1997 antarctic mapping mission are used interferometrically to solve for the 3 dimensional surface ice motion in the interior of the west antarctic ice sheet wais an area of 125 km2 in a tributary of the kamb ice stream slumped vertically downwards by up to 50 cm between september 26 and october 18 1997 areas in the bindschadler ice stream also exhibited comparable upward and downward surface displacements as the uplift and subsidence features correspond to sites at which the basal water apparently experiences a hydraulic potential well we suggest transient movement of pockets of subglacial water as the most likely cause for the vertical surface displacements these results and related lidar observations imply that imaging the change in ice surface elevation can help reveal the key role of water in the difficult to observe subglacial environment and its important influence on ice dynamics

basal shear stress of the ross ice streams from control method inversions 1 we used control method inversions to determine the basal shear stress beneath the ross ice streams where new high resolution velocity data sets have recently become available the inversion algorithm was adapted from an earlier viscous bed algorithm to allow solution for the basal shear stress corresponding to a weak plastic bed we performed several experiments using synthetic data to determine the quality of the inversions these experiments indicate that with high quality surface elevation data e g errors 5 m the inversions are relatively robust with respect to errors in ice flow velocity and bed topography the inversions are consistent with seismic and borehole observations and indicate that the ross ice streams lie atop a bed that is nearly everywhere weak in contrast the tributaries feeding these ice streams overlie alternating patches of strong and weak bed

changes in speed near the onset of bindschadler ice stream west antarctica ice stream velocities can change rapidly understanding the spatial and temporal pattern of these changes and the forcings responsible is essential for predicting ice sheet mass balance inland migration of the onset location will lead to more efficient drainage of inland ice one way to monitor the stability of the onset location is to investigate changes in the velocity field we report on the velocity near the onset of bindschadler ice stream west antarctica in 2002 and compare these data to the velocity measured in 1996 mean annual velocities were determined by measuring the gps position of markers during consecutive seasons we compare our results with similar measurements from 1996 to investigate temporal changes in this ice stream onset our results indicate that only minimal changes have occurred in the speed of the ice stream between 1996 and 2002

deep sea sedimentation offshore eastern taiwan facies and processes characterization recent sedimentary facies and processes along the offshore slope of east taiwan are investigated using a large set of geophysical and sedimentological data the taiwan orogen is often considered as one of the most tectonically active regions in the world and also suffers important climatic activity with an average of four typhoons per year we have mapped in details the morphosedimentary features and characterized the sedimentary facies along offshore eastern taiwan there we show that the slope is driven by a variety of erosional processes from mass wasting to turbidity current mass movements such as slides or mass transport deposits mtds are ubiquitous and affect the whole east coast off taiwan detailed core investigations such as grain size analysis chemical and mineralogical composition revealed that turbidite facies range from thin fine grained turbidites to thick massive turbidite facies the detailed analysis of turbidite beds allow us to discuss the controlling factors of turbidity current generation turbidity currents represent an important sedimentary process that governs the slope morphology off east taiwan triggering mechanisms likely range from slope instabilities related to earthquakes shaking to failure relative to climatic controlled pulses of sediment supply we propose that at least two end members are characteristics in our turbidite records in term of controlling factor 1 turbidity currents likely generated by tectonic activity and earthquakes shaking in particular and 2 turbidity currents likely generated by climatic activity such as typhoon induced floods

new and improved determinations of velocity of ice streams b and c west antarctica measurements of velocity have been made on and next to ice streams b and c west antarctica the results are more precise than previous work and constitute a 93 increase in the number of values these velocities are used to describe the confluence of flow into the ice streams and the development of fast ice stream flow the onset of fast streaming flow occurs in many separate tributaries that coalesce down glacier into the major ice streams for those inter stream ridges that have been studied the flow is consistent with steady state along ice stream b gradients in longitudinal stress offer little resistance to the ice flow the transition from basal drag control to ice shelf flow is achieved through reduced drag at the glacier base and increased resistance associated with lateral drag velocities in the trunk of ice stream c are nearly zero but those at the up glacial head are similar to those at the head of ice stream b

till beneath ice stream b 2 structure and continuity during the 1984 1985 antarctic field season 8 3 km of high resolution seismic reflection data were collected in order to image a thin till layer beneath ice stream b west antarctica two parallel seismic reflection lines were oriented transverse to ice flow these data show that the till layer varies in thickness but is continuous over almost the entire length of the profiles with an average thickness of 6 5 m the upper surface of the till layer is smooth but the lower boundary is fluted parallel to flow these till filled flutes are as much as 13 m deep and 1000 m across nowhere on the profiles can any feature be discerned to penetrate more than a few meters into the ice from the bed reflection events from lithified sediments of unknown type are observed to be truncated by the till in an angular unconformity

till beneath ice stream b 3 till deformation evidence and implications most of the velocity of ice stream b near the upstream b camp upb west antarctica appears to arise from deformation of a seismically detected subglacial till layer that averages 6 m thick available evidence indicates that the entire thickness of this till layer is deforming and is eroding subjacent bedrock into flutes parallel to ice flow and hundreds of meters across the resulting till flux beneath upb is equivalent to an average erosion rate of about 0 4 mm yr 1 in the catchment area and suggests that till deltas tens of kilometers long have been deposited at the grounding line during the holocene such deltas should be characterized by partial ice till decoupling across a water film and by a small ice air surface slope they may have been discovered by recent geophysical work

radar derived bed roughness characterization of institute and moller ice streams west antarctica and comparison with siple coast ice streams 1 subglacial bed conditions exert a significant control on ice stream behavior and evolution and can be characterized by determining bed roughness from fft analysis of radar imaged basal reflectors here we assess bed roughness across institute and moller ice streams west antarctica and compare our findings with bed roughness determined across the siple coast ice streams we find that variations in bed roughness are spatially organized and attribute this to the varying efficacy of subglacial erosion and deposition with rougher inland slow flowing regions largely manifesting preglacial topography and smoother downstream fast flowing regions evincing significant postglacial modification to the subglacial landscape the observed similarities between bed roughness characteristics of iis mis and the siple ice streams suggest that iis and mis are largely underlain by wet poorly consolidated sediments and may therefore be vulnerable to the types of dynamical instabilities experienced by the siple ice streams

subglacial thermal balance permits ongoing grounding line retreat along the siple coast of west antarctica changes in the discharge of west antarctic ice streams are of potential concern with respect to global sea level the six relatively thin fast flowing ross ice streams are of interest as low slope end members among antarctic ice streams extensive research has demonstrated that these rivers of ice have a history of relatively high frequency asynchronous discharge variations with evolving lateral boundaries amidst this variability a 1300 km grounding line retreat has occurred since the last glacial maximum numerical studies of ice stream d parizek and others 2002 indicate that a proposed thermal regulation mechanism clarke and marshall 1998 hulbe and macayeal 1999 tulaczyk and others 2000a b which could buffer the west antarctic ice sheet against complete collapse may be over ridden by latent heat transport within melt water from beneath inland ice extending these studies to ice stream a whillans ice stream and ice stream c suggests that further grounding line retreat contributing to sea level rise is possible thermodynamically however the efficiency of basal water distribution may be a constraint on the system because local thermal deficits promote basal freeze on especially on topographic highs observed short term variability is likely to persist

changes in west antarctic ice stream velocities observation and analysis 1 we have produced a map of velocity covering much of the siple coast ice streams the map confirms earlier estimates of deceleration on whillans ice stream comparison with bed elevation data indicates that subglacial topography and the location of consolidated sediment play a strong role in determining the location of the tributaries feeding the ice streams force balance estimates based on these data indicate that the tributaries have beds nearly an order of magnitude stronger than those beneath many of the ice streams we have used a theoretical analysis to examine the controls on fast flow this analysis suggests that ice plains very wide ice streams are inherently unstable this instability may be responsible for the current deceleration on the ice plain of whillans ice stream and the shutdown of ice stream c 150 years ago thinning induced reductions in driving stress may also explain some of the observed deceleration particularly in upstream areas the active portions of ice stream c coincide well with the areas where we estimate that melt should be taking place current topography and inferences of large thickening following a shutdown suggest the upstream migration of a stagnation front that initiated at the ice plain uncertainty remains about the basal conditions on ice stream d while the basal resistance on ice stream e is large enough to ensure basal melting

energy balance of ice streams analysis of the cross flow transmission of force from the central parts of a well lubricated ice stream to its margins shows that there is a corresponding shift in the lateral location of motion induced heat generation the rate of basal heat generation in the center can be substantially smaller than the local rate of potential energy loss given by driving stress times the speed of downslope motion the basal heating is a maximum for an intermediate level of lubrication for which speed is about 40 of the speed over a frictionless bed and base stress is about 25 of the driving stress stable and unstable balances between meltwater production and drainage on the bed are identified a stable steady state with a speed less more than that giving maximum heat generation is termed drainage production limited since an increase in speed would lead to increased decreased basal melting and must need not be balanced by increased drainage it is shown that gradual evolution of the basal water drainage system and the factors affecting basal melting can cause discontinuous jumps between fast and slow moving states a simplified analysis applied to six cross sections of west antarctic ice streams b d e and rutford ice stream shows them to be diverse in the level of support from the sides and corresponding shift of mechanical heating sideward from their central parts the cross sections of ice stream b near upstream b may be production limited because of especially high lubrication and related support from the sides cross sections in the upper part of ice stream d ice stream e and rutford ice stream are in a drainage limited condition substantial reduction of basal heat generation by side drag in most cases and expected high heat flow into the basal ice associated with low thickness in some cases tends to favor basal freezing nevertheless all of the examined cross sections except one are expected to experience basal melting with a modest geothermal heat flux density of 60 mw m or less in some cases the lower part of ice stream b is an exception where the analysis indicates that geothermal flux density must exceed 80 100 mw m to maintain melting if this high geothermal flux is not present then the base of the lower part of ice stream b may be freezing which would suggest continued deceleration of this part of ice stream b

streamlined hard beds formed by palaeo ice streams a review fast flowing ice streams occur within modern ice sheets and also operated in pleistocene ice sheets the reconstruction of palaeo ice streams normally relies on the mapping of mega scale glacial lineations msgls and drumlins composed of soft sediment mainly till analysis of new satellite imagery and digital terrain models demonstrates the presence of large fields of kilometre scale glacial lineations comprising rock drumlins megagrooves and megaridges in this paper we describe and analyse a number of such hard bed landform systems from the former laurentide and british irish ice sheets occurring in a variety of palaeo ice stream settings these are attributed to erosion of crystalline and sedimentary rock below fast flowing ice streams bedrock properties such as hardness fracture spacing and bedding and their orientation with respect to ice flow have a profound effect on the occurrence and character of elongate rock bedforms elongate streamlined forms on hard crystalline rock as on the canadian shield only form under special circumstances in contrast sedimentary strata are highly susceptible to form streamlined hard beds specifically if bedrock strike is parallel to ice flow large scale elongate rock bedforms are erosional in origin formed by preferentially focused abrasion or by lateral plucking depending on bedrock type many palaeo ice stream footprints previously mapped in the laurentide ice sheet on the basis of soft bed bedforms are shown to be significantly larger extending up ice across sedimentary strata and onto precambrian crystalline rocks hard bed streamlined forms further show that ice streaming does not necessitate a deformable bed but can equally occur on smooth hard beds

interplate patchiness and subduction erosion mechanisms evidence from depth migrated seismic images at the central ecuador convergent margin prestack depth migrated seismic lines provide accurate images of the convergent ecuadorian margin where the southern flank of the carnegie ridge subducts the margin is fronted by a 5 7 km wide compressional sediment prism beneath the slope margin thinning is accomplished by gradual thinning of the lower part of the basement accompanied by pervasive seaward dipping normal faulting indicating basal subduction erosion at a low friction plate interface along the plate boundary a thin subduction channel locally thickens to form low velocity 600 m thick lenses of underthrusted fluid rich sediment supplied by slope mass wasting the contrast between the fluid rich sediment and the surrounding thinner and drier sections of the subduction channel creates a three dimensional patchiness across the plate boundary implying variations in mechanical interplate coupling the subduction channel patchiness modulates subduction erosion processes by alternately favoring margin basement weakening and material removal basement weakening would occur 1 at the base of the upper plate where enhanced reflectivity indicates basement damage by overpressured fluids from the subduction channel and 2 at the basement apex where basement breakup is caused by superposition of compressional and extensional fault systems resulting from time variable interplate mechanical coupling the detachment of rock debris in the higher coupled sections and the subsequent dragging of the fragments into the subduction channel cause tectonic erosion deeper in the subduction the subduction channel patchiness may influence processes like earthquake nucleation and rupture propagation and material recycling in the mantle

bed conditions of pine island glacier west antarctica although 90 of antarctica s discharge occurs via its fast flowing ice streams our ability to project future ice sheet response has been limited by poor observational constraints on the ice bed conditions used in numerical models to determine basal slip we have helped address this observational deficit by acquiring and analyzing a series of seismic reflection profiles to determine basal conditions beneath the main trunk and tributaries of pine island glacier pig west antarctica seismic profiles indicate large scale sedimentary deposits combined with seismic reflection images measured acoustic impedance values indicate relatively uniform bed conditions directly beneath the main trunk and tributaries comprising a widespread reworked sediment layer with a dilated sediment lid of minimum thickness 1 5 0 4 m beneath a slow moving intertributary region a discrete low porosity sediment layer of 7 3 m thickness is imaged despite considerable basal topography seismic observations indicate that a till layer at the ice base is ubiquitous beneath pig which requires a highly mobile sediment body to maintain an abundant supply these results are compatible with existing ice sheet models used to invert for basal shear stress existing basal conditions upstream will not inhibit further rapid retreat of pig if the high friction region currently restraining flow directly upstream of the grounding line is breached however small changes in the pressure regime at the bed as a result of stress reorganization following retreat may result in a less readily deformable bed and conditions which are less likely to maintain high ice flow rates

antarctic palaeo ice streams we review the geomorphological sedimentological and chronological evidence for palaeo ice streams on the continental shelf of antarctica and use this information to investigate basal conditions and processes and to identify factors controlling grounding line retreat a comprehensive circum antarctic inventory of known palaeo ice streams their basal characteristics and minimum ages for their retreat following the last glacial maximum lgm is also provided antarctic palaeo ice streams are identified by a set of diagnostic landforms that nonetheless display considerable spatial variability due to the influence of substrate flow velocity and subglacial processes during the lgm palaeo ice streams extended via bathymetric troughs to the shelf edge of the antarctic peninsula and west antarctica and typically to the mid outer shelf of east antarctica the retreat history of the antarctic ice sheet since the lgm is characterised by considerable asynchroneity with individual ice streams exhibiting different retreat histories this variability allows antarctic palaeo ice streams to be classified into discrete retreat styles and the controls on grounding line retreat to be investigated such analysis highlights the important impact of internal factors on ice stream dynamics such as bed characteristics and slope and drainage basin size whilst grounding line retreat may be triggered and to some extent paced by external atmospheric and oceanic forcing the individual characteristics of each ice stream will modulate the precise timing and rate of retreat through time

englacial seismic reflectivity imaging crystal orientation fabric in west antarctica abrupt changes in crystal orientation fabric cof and therefore viscosity are observed near the base of the ice sheet throughout west antarctica we report on active source seismic observations from wais divide mid stream and downstream on thwaites glacier and the onset region of bindschadler ice stream these data reveal a prevalence of englacial seismic reflectivity in the bottom quarter of the ice sheet the observed seismic reflectivity is complex but largely bed conformable with long spatial wavelength features observed in the flow direction and short wavelength features observed across flow a correspondence of englacial structures with bed features is also observed we determine the origin of the reflectivity to be abrupt changes in the cof of ice based on the following 1 observations of englacial reflectivity are consistent with current knowledge of cof within ice sheets 2 englacial reflectivity caused by cof contrasts requires the simplest genesis especially at ice divides and 3 amplitude analysis shows that the observed englacial reflectivity can be explained by contrasts in seismic velocity due to cof changes we note that the downstream increase in the quantity and complexity of observations indicates that direct observations of cof at ice divides likely underestimate the role that fabric plays in ice sheet dynamics

accelerated ice discharge from the antarctic peninsula following the collapse of larsen b ice shelf acceleration exceeds 27 km 3 per year and ice is thinning at rates of tens of meters per year we attribute this abrupt evolution of the glaciers to the removal of the buttressing ice shelf the magnitude of the glacier changes illustrates the importance of ice shelves on ice sheet mass balance and contribution to sea level change index terms 1827 hydrology glaciology 1863 1863 hydrology snow and ice 1827 3349 meteorology and atmospheric dynamics polar meteorology 6924 radio science interferometry 9310 information related to geographic region antarctica citation rignot e g casassa p gogineni w krabill a rivera and r thomas 2004 accelerated ice discharge from the antarctic peninsula following the collapse of larsen b ice shelf geophys res lett 31 l18401 doi 10 1029 2004gl020697

rapid response of modern day ice sheets to external forcing abstract the great ice sheets covering antarctica and greenland were traditionally believed to take thousands of years to respond to external forcing recent observations suggest however that major changes in the dynamics of parts of the ice sheets are taking place over timescales of years these changes were not predicted by numerical models and the underlying cause s remains uncertain it has been suggested that regional oceanic and or atmospheric warming are responsible but separating the influence and importance of these two forcings has not been possible in most cases the role of atmospheric versus oceanic control remains uncertain here we review the observations of rapid change and discuss the possible mechanisms in the light of advances in numerical modelling and our understanding of the processes that may be responsible

basal sliding of ice stream b west antarctica a tethered stake apparatus is used to measure basal sliding in a borehole on ice stream b west antarctica about 300 km upstream east from its grounding line near the head of the ross ice shelf a metal stake emplaced at the top of a layer of unfrozen till underlying the ice is connected by a tether line to a metering unit that measures the tether line as it is pulled out from the borehole by the stake as a result of basal sliding the measured sliding motion includes any actual slip across the ice till interface and may include in addition a possible contribution from shear deformation of till within about 3 cm of the interface this 3 cm figure follows from a qualitative model of the movements of the stake in the course of the experiment based on features of the record of apparent sliding alternative but less likely models would increase the figure from 3 cm to 10 cm or 25 cm in any case it is small compared to the seismically inferred till thickness of 9 m measured apparent sliding averages 69 of the total motion of 1 2 m d 1 over 26 days of observation if a 3 5 day period of slow apparent sliding 8 of the total motion is included in the average the occurrence of the slow period raises the possibility that the sliding motion switches back and forth between c 80 and c 8 of the total motion on a time scale of a few days however it is likely that the period of slow apparent sliding represents instead a period when the stake got caught on the ice sole if the slow period is therefore omitted the indicated average basal sliding rate is 83 of the total motion in either case basal sliding predominates as the cause of the rapid ice stream motion in the last 2 days of observation the average apparent sliding rate reached 1 17 m d 1 essentially 100 of the motion of the ice stream if till deformation contributes significantly to the ice stream motion the contribution is concentrated in a shear zone 3 cm to possibly 25 cm thick at the top of the 9 m thick till layer these observations if applicable to the west antarctic ice sheet in general pose complications in modeling the rapid ice streaming motion

similarity of organized patterns in driving and basal stresses of antarctic and greenland ice sheets beneath extensive areas of basal sliding the rate of ice transport from the interior of ice sheets to their margins and hence the rate with which it contributes to sea level is determined by the balance of driving stress basal resistance and ice internal deformation using recent high resolution observations of the antarctic and greenland ice sheets we compute driving stress and ice deformation velocities inferring basal traction by inverse techniques the results reveal broad scale organization in 5 20 km band like patterns in both the driving and basal shear stresses located in zones with substantial basal sliding both ice sheets experience basal sliding over areas substantially larger than previously recognized the likely cause of the spatial patterns is the development of a band like structure in the basal shear stress distribution that is the results of pattern forming instabilities related to subglacial water the similarity of patterns on the greenland and antarctic ice sheets suggests that the flow of ice sheets is controlled by the same fundamental processes operating at their base which control ice sheet sliding and are highly variable on relatively short spatial and temporal scales with poor predictability this has far reaching implications for understanding of the current and projection of the future ice sheets evolution

bedmap a new ice thickness and subglacial topographic model of antarctica measurements of ice thickness on the antarctic ice sheet collected during surveys undertaken over the past 50 years have been brought together into a single database from these data a seamless suite of digital topographic models have been compiled for antarctica and its surrounding ocean this includes grids of ice sheet thickness over the grounded ice sheet and ice shelves water column thickness beneath the floating ice shelves bed elevation beneath the grounded ice sheet and bathymetry to 60 s including the sub ice shelf cavities these grids are consistent with a recent high resolution surface elevation model of antarctica while the digital models have a nominal spatial resolution of 5 km such high resolution is justified by the original data density only over a few parts of the ice sheet the suite does however provide an unparalleled vision of the geosphere beneath the ice sheet and a more reliable basis for ice sheet modeling than earlier maps the total volume of the antarctic ice sheet calculated from the bedmap grid is 25 4 million km3 and the total sea level equivalent derived from the amount of ice contained within the grounded ice sheet is 57 m comprising 52 m from the east antarctic ice sheet and 5 m from the west antarctic ice sheet slightly less than earlier estimates the gridded data sets can be obtained from the authors

accelerated sea level rise from west antarctica recent aircraft and satellite laser altimeter surveys of the amundsen sea sector of west antarctica show that local glaciers are discharging about 250 cubic kilometers of ice per year to the ocean almost 60 more than is accumulated within their catchment basins this discharge is sufficient to raise sea level by more than 0 2 millimeters per year glacier thinning rates near the coast during 2002 2003 are much larger than those observed during the 1990s most of these glaciers flow into floating ice shelves over bedrock up to hundreds of meters deeper than previous estimates providing exit routes for ice from further inland if ice sheet collapse is under way

bed reflectivity beneath inactive ice streams in west antarctica radio echo sounding res techniques are used to examine spatial changes inbed reflectivityacrossrelictice streams inwest antarctica measurementsfrom adjacent interstream ridgesare usedto correctthe measuredpower returned fromthebed for attenuation and losses due to geometric spreading scattering and absorption res measurements near boreholes drilled on ice stream c isc indicate high coefficients of bed reflectivity r40 1 in locations where the bed wasthawed and boreholes connected to thebasalwatersystem andlow reflectivitycoefficients r50 02 atlocationsthat were frozen and not connected intermediate values of bed reflectivity were measured at locations where the connection to the basal water systemwas weak measurements across four relictmargins show thatbedreflectivity usuallyjumpsfromlow tohighvaluesseveral kilometers inside the outermost buried crevasses we interpret this to be a transition from frozento thawedbasal conditions anddiscuss implications of these observations

the dynamics of ice sheet outlets a comparison of data from aircraft altimetry landsat imagery and radia echo sounding has shown characteristic surface topographies associated with sheet and stream flow the transition between the two is abrupt and occurs at a step in the subglacial topography this marks the onset of basal sliding and high velocities caused by subglacial water it results in crevassed amphitheatre like basins round the head of outlet glaciers it is also the zone of maximum driving stress beyond which values decline rapidly as velocities increase this abrupt transition appears to be topographically controlled since basal temperatures are at the pressure melting point well inland of the change in regime the marie byrd land ice streams exhibit qualitative differences from other ice sheet outlets however the change to lower driving stresses is much more gradual and occurs several hundred kilometres inland such ice streams have particularly low surface slopes and appear in form and flow regime to resemble confined ice shelves rather than grounded ice the repeated association of the transition to rapid sliding with a distinct subglacial feature implies a stabilizing effect on discharge through outlet glaciers acceleration of the ice is pinned to a subglacial step and propagation of high velocities inland of this feature seems improbable rapid ice flow through subglacial trenches may also ensure a relatively permanent trough through accentuation of the feature by erosion this is concentrated towards the heads of outlet glaciers up stream of the region where significant basal decoupling occurs this may be a mechanism for the overdeepening of fjords at their inland ends and the development of very steep fjord headwalls

glacial geology of western hudson strait canada with reference to laurentide ice sheet dynamics hudson strait is a large marine trough that connected the marine based interior of the laurentide ice sheet with the ocean field investigations of the glacial geology of western hudson strait have helped to define the role of the strait in laurentide ice sheet dynamics in general ice converged on western hudson strait from the north west and south upon reaching the strait ice flowing from foxe and ungava peninsulas turned eastward within less than 10 km of the coast to parallel eastwardly flowing ice in the strait glacial erosion of western hudson strait is identified as slight the texture carbonate content ph and the presence of several types of erratics distinguish till on nottingham salisbury and mill islands in western hudson strait from till on southern foxe peninsula and northern ungava peninsula till on the islands is characterized by higher ph and higher proportions of silt clay and carbonate than till on either adjacent peninsula in addition the presence of red sandstones porphyritic intrusives stromatolites omarolluks and iron formation are restricted to the islands with few exceptions that can be explained by ice rafting carbonate is present in the pebble and boulder fractions of till on foxe peninsula and in all fractions of till on the islands but is absent from till on ungava peninsula these data suggest that ice from distant and widely distributed source regions affected western hudson strait and along with evidence for a rapid change in ice flow direction along the margins of hudson strait suggest that the strait was occupied by a relatively fast moving ice stream that had a substantial impact on the interior of the ice sheet through downdraw

subglacial sediments as a control on the onset and location of two siple coast ice streams west antarctica laterally continuous subglacial sediments are a necessary component for ice streaming in the modern onset regions of the ice streams draining the siple coast of west antarctica on the basis of new seismic data combined with previous results we present geophysical results from seismic reflection and refraction experiments in the upper reaches of ice streams c and d that highlight continuous sedimentary basins within and upstream of the current onset regions of both ice streams with streaming ice overlying these sedimentary packages the subglacial environment changes from no sediment to discontinuous sediment to continuous sediment cover along a longitudinal profile from the ice sheet to tributary c1b along this same profile we observe a speedup of ice flow and then full development of the ice stream tributary ice stream d flows above a thick sedimentary package with an uppermost low seismic velocity zone indicative of soft till and the upglacier and lateral extensions of ice stream d are tightly constrained by the extent of continuous sediments the inland termination of these sediments suggests that future migration of high velocity low shear stress ice flow in these regions appears unlikely

lower palaeozoic unconformities in an intracratonic platform setting glacial erosion versus tectonics in the eastern murzuq basin southern libya the stratigraphic record of the eastern murzuq basin has been importantly influenced by deformation resulting in angular and or deeply erosional unconformities though the overall context is intracratonic major transgressive events and the ordovician glaciation are nevertheless documented allowing the delineation of tectonic eustasy or climate driven unconformities lower palaeozoic key events and related unconformities that characterize the north gondwana platform have therefore a signature in the eastern murzuq basin the basement cover unconformity also known as the infra tassilian surface truncates all the deformed and metamorphosed lower cambrian and older rocks above is a middle cambrian to lower ordovician megasequence murizidie and hasawnah fms which is in turn truncated by an intra ordovician angular unconformity this megasequence is unconformably overlain by a middle ordovician hawaz fm to silurian tanzzuft and akakus fms megasequence which includes the upper ordovician glaciogenic unit mamuniyat fm bounded at the base by a polygenic glacial erosion surface showing corrugated glacial lineations tillites and glaciotectonic structures the middle ordovician to silurian megasequence is finally truncated by a base devonian angular unconformity overlain by fluvial sandstones regarding the possibility that those fluvial deposits may be as younger as late devonian in the eastern murzuq basin based on palaeoflora the so called caledonian unconformity might be here a much younger mid eifelian surface and the occurrence of the lower devonian tadrart fm is questioned the upper ordovician glacial erosion surface which is sometimes referred to as the taconic unconformity usually truncates middle ordovician strata in the murzuq basin but reaches significantly deeper stratigraphic levels in places that have been previously involved in the intra ordovician deformation event in the murizidie southeastern murzuq basin the infra tassilian surface the intra ordovician unconformity and the upper ordovician glacial erosion surface amalgamate together here an estimate of the glacial erosion depth cannot be derived from the stratigraphic hiatus beneath the glacial incision the main part of which relate to the intra ordovician tectonic event the upper ordovician climate related glacial erosion surface is not a valid unconformity for a sequence hierarchy framework of the lower palaeozoic although it presents most of the physical attributes of tectonic driven unconformities

laurentide ice streaming on the canadian shield a conflict with the soft bedded ice stream paradigm elucidating the controls on the location and vigor of ice streams is crucial to understanding the processes that lead to fast disintegration of ice flows and ice sheets in the former north american laurentide ice sheet ice stream occurrence appears to have been governed by topographic troughs or areas of soft sediment geology this paper reports robust evidence of a major paleo ice stream over the northwestern canadian shield an area previously assumed to be incompatible with fast ice flow because of the low relief and relatively hard bedrock a coherent pattern of subglacial bedforms drumlins and megascale glacial lineations demarcates the ice stream flow set which exhibits a convergent onset zone a narrow main trunk with abrupt lateral margins and a lobate terminus variations in bedform elongation ratio within the flow set match theoretical expectations of ice velocity in the center of the ice stream extremely parallel megascale glacial lineations tens of kilometers long with elongation ratios in excess of 40 1 attest to a single episode of rapid ice flow we conclude that while bed properties are likely to be influential in determining the occurrence and vigor of ice streams contrary to established views widespread soft bed geology is not an essential requirement for those ice streams without topographic control we speculate that the ice stream acted as a release valve on ice sheet mass balance and was initiated by the presence of a proglacial lake that destabilized the ice sheet margin and propagated fast ice flow through a series of thermomechanical feedbacks involving ice flow and temperature

wet subglacial bedforms of the ne greenland ice stream shear margins we describe elongate wet subglacial bedforms in the shear margins of the ne greenland ice stream and place some constraints on their formation lateral shear margin moraines have been observed across the previously glaciated landscape but little is known about the ice flow conditions necessary to form these bedforms here we describe in situ sediment bedforms under the ne greenland ice stream shear margins that are observed in active source seismic and ground penetrating radar surveys we find bedforms in the shear margins that are 500 m wide 50 m tall and elongated nearly parallel to ice flow including what we believe to be the first subglacial observation of a shear margin moraine acoustic impedance analysis of the bedforms shows that they are composed of unconsolidated deformable water saturated till we use these geophysical observations to place constraints on the possible formation mechanism of these subglacial features

deformation of till beneath ice stream b west antarctica the behaviour and possible instability of the west antarctic ice sheet depend fundamentally on the dynamics of the large ice streams which drain it model calculations show that most ice stream velocity arises at the bed1 2 and radar sounding has shown the bed to be wet3 but the basal boundary condition is not well understood seismic evidence from the upstream b camp upb on the siple coast of west antarctica4 shows that the ice stream there rests on a layer of unconsolidated sediment averaging 5 or 6 m thick in which the water pressure is only 50 kpa less than the overburden pressure because this thin layer occurs well inland beneath an active ice sheet and rests on a surface showing flutes4 characteristic of glacial erosion5 we presume that it is glacial till we propose here that deformation within the till is the primary mechanism by which the ice stream moves and we discuss implications of this hypothesis

large fluctuations in speed on greenland s jakobshavn isbrae glacier it is important to understand recent changes in the velocity of greenland glaciers because the mass balance of the greenland ice sheet is partly determined by the flow rates of these outlets jakobshavn isbrae is greenland s largest outlet glacier draining about 6 5 per cent of the ice sheet area and it has been surveyed repeatedly since 1991 ref 2 here we use remote sensing data to measure the velocity of jakobshavn isbrae between 1992 and 2003 we detect large variability of the velocity over time including a slowing down from 6 700 m yr 1 in 1985 to 5 700 m yr 1 in 1992 and a subsequent speeding up to 9 400 m yr 1 by 2000 and 12 600 m yr 1 in 2003 these changes are consistent with earlier evidence for thickening of the glacier in the early 1990s and rapid thinning thereafter our observations indicate that fast flowing glaciers can significantly alter ice discharge at sub decadal timescales with at least a potential to respond rapidly to a changing climate

till beneath ice stream b 1 properties derived from seismic travel times seismic experiments conducted on ice stream b part of the marine ice sheet of west antarctica show a meters thick layer immediately beneath the 1000 m thick ice a seismic experiment consisting of wide angle reflection profiling along a line parallel to ice stream flow was conducted to determine the properties of this layer inversion of seismic travel times yields a compressional wave speed of less than 1700 m s 1 and a shear wave speed less than 160 m s 1 for the layer these very low wave speeds imply that the material in the layer is highly porous and is saturated with water at a high pore pressure based on wave speeds in other saturated unconsolidated sediments we believe that a porosity substantially greater than 0 32 probably around 0 4 and an excess of overburden pressure over pore pressure of only 50 kpa 0 5 bar characterize the layer at this location

the effects of entrained debris on the basal sliding stability of a glacier 1 new laboratory experiments exploring likely subglacial conditions reveal controls on the transition between stable sliding and stick slip motion of debris laden ice over rock with implications for glacier behavior friction between a rock substrate and clasts in ice generates heat which melts nearby ice to produce lubricating water an increase in sliding speed or an increase in entrained debris raises heat generation and thus meltwater production unstable sliding is favored by low initial lubrication followed by rapid meltwater production in response to a velocity increase low initial lubrication can result from cold or drained conditions whereas rapid increase in meltwater generation results from strong frictional heating caused by high sliding velocity or high debris loads strengthening of the interface healing during stick intervals between slip events occurs primarily through meltwater refreezing when healing and unstable sliding are taken together the experiments reported here suggest that stick slip behavior is common from motion of debris laden glacier ice over bedrock

widespread complex flow in the interior of the antarctic ice sheet it has been suggested that as much as 90 of the discharge from the antarctic ice sheet is drained through a small number of fast moving ice streams and outlet glaciers fed by relatively stable and inactive catchment areas here evidence obtained from balance velocity estimates suggests that each major drainage basin is fed by complex systems of tributaries that penetrate up to 1000 kilometers from the grounding line into the interior of the ice sheet this finding has important consequences for the modeled or estimated dynamic response time of past and present ice sheets to climate forcing

extensive storage of basal meltwater in the onset region of a major west antarctic ice stream a major meltwater body exists beneath a tributary of bindschadler ice stream west antarctica in a region where subglacial lakes have not been mapped but near where rapid vertical motion of the ice sheet surface has suggested shifting of a subglacial water body the water is trapped by a local reversal in ice air surface slope arising from ice flow over variable basal topography and from the positive feedback of basal lubrication from the trapped water strong variations in the water content of the sediments upglacier of the water body arise from a similar process these results are revealed by a novel application of the amplitude variation with offset avo seismic technique the existence of such water bodies and of the strong spatial variation in subglacial sediment properties is not captured in current models of subglacial hydrology lubrication of ice stream motion and sediment transport

acoustic impedance and basal shear stress beneath four antarctic ice streams the acoustic impedance of the subglacial material beneath 7 2 km profiles on four ice streams in antarctica has been measured using a seismic technique the ice streams span a wide range of dynamic conditions with flow rates of 35 464 in a 1 the acoustic impedance indicates that poorly lithified or dilated sedimentary material is ubiquitous beneath these ice streams mean acoustic impedance across each profile correlates well with basal shear stress and the slipperiness of the bed indicating that acoustic impedance is a good diagnostic not only for the porosity of the subglacial material but also for its dynamic state deforming or non deforming beneath two of the ice streams lodged non deforming and dilated deforming sediment coexist but their distribution is not obviously controlled by basal topography or ice thickness their distribution may be controlled by complex material properties or the deformation history beneath rutford ice stream lodged and dilated sediment coexist and are distributed in broad bands several kilometres wide while on talutis inlet there is considerable variability over much shorter distances this may reflect differences in the mechanism of drainage beneath the ice streams the material beneath the slow moving carlson inlet is probably lodged but unlithified sediment this is consistent with the hypothesis that carlson inlet was once a fast flowing ice stream but is now in a stagnant phase which could possibly be revived by raised basal water content the entire bed beneath fast flowing evans ice stream is dilated sediment

radar reflections reveal a wet bed beneath stagnant ice stream c and a frozen bed beneath ridge bc west antarctica digital airborne radar data were collected during the 1987 88 antarctic field season in nine gridded blocks covering the downstream portions of ice stream b 6 km spacing and ice stream c 11 km spacing together with a portion of ridge bc between them an automated processing procedure was used for picking onset times of the reflected radar pulses converting travel times to distances interpolating missing data converting pressure transducer readings correcting navigational drift performing crossover analysis and zeroing remanent crossover errors interpolation between flight lines was carried out using the minimum curvature method maps of ice thickness estimated accuracy 20 m and basal reflection strength estimated accuracy 1 db were produced the ice thickness map confirms the characteristics of previous reconnaissance maps and reveals no new features the reflection strength map shows pronounced contrasts between the ice streams and ridge bc and between the two ice streams themselves we interpret the reflection strengths to mean that the bed of ice stream c as well as that of ice stream b is unfrozen that the bed of ridge bc is frozen and that the boundary between the frozen bed of ridge bc and the unfrozen bed of ice stream c lies precisely below the former shear margin of the ice stream

changes in the west antarctic ice sheet the portion of the west antarctic ice sheet that flows into the ross sea is thinning in some places and thickening in others these changes are not caused by any current climatic change but by the combination of a delayed response to the end of the last global glacial cycle and an internal instability the near future impact of the ice sheet on global sea level is largely due to processes internal to the movement of the ice sheet and not so much to the threat of a possible greenhouse warming thus the near term future of the ice sheet is already determined however too little of the ice sheet has been surveyed to predict its overall future behavior

ice flow structure and ice dynamic changes in the weddell sea sector of west antarctica from radar imaged internal layering recent studies have aroused concerns over the potential for ice draining the weddell sea sector of west antarctica to figure more prominently in sea level contributions should buttressing from the filchner ronne ice shelf diminish to improve understanding of how ice stream dynamics there evolved through the holocene we interrogate radio echo sounding res data from across the catchments of institute and moller ice streams iis and mis focusing especially on the use of internal layering to investigate ice flow change as an important component of this work we investigate the influence that the orientation of the res acquisition track with respect to ice flow exerts on internal layering and find that this influence is minimal unless a res flight track parallels ice flow we also investigate potential changes to internal layering characteristics with depth to search for important temporal transitions in ice flow regime our findings suggest that ice in northern iis draining the ellsworth subglacial highlands has retained its present ice flow configuration throughout the holocene this contrasts with less topographically constrained ice in southern iis and much of mis whose internal layering evinces spatial changes to the configuration of ice flow over the past 10 000 years our findings confirm siegert et al s 2013 inference that fast flow was diverted from bungenstock ice rise during the late holocene and suggest that this may have represented just one component of wider regional changes to ice flow occurring across the iis and mis catchments as the west antarctic ice sheet has thinned since the last glacial maximum

influence of subglacial geology on the position of a west antarctic ice stream from seismic observations ice streams drain much of the interior west antarctic ice sheet and buffer the main ice reservoir from oceanic influences1 2 the slow flowing interior feeds the floating ross ice shelf with ice via fast flowing ice streams3 that are believed to modulate sea level change through their control of inland ice storage understanding ice stream behaviour and predicting the response to climate change4 requires a better knowledge of the subglacial geology5 6 it is known that a thawed ice bed and high pressure basal water are necessary but not sufficient conditions to cause ice streaming7 8 moreover it has been hypothesized that a soft sedimentary bed is also required because of its intrinsic low frictional resistance to flow9 and owing to its high erodibility so as to generate till that can deform and lubricate ice motion10 11 or to bury rough features and smooth the bed for sliding here we use seismic observations to provide evidence that one margin of the upglacier part of an ice stream is directly above the boundary of a basin with such sedimentary fill the ice stream is within the basin and the ice outside the basin is slow flowing the basin fill presents an order of magnitude lower frictional resistance to ice flow than the subglacial material outside the basin we conclude that the ice stream position is dependent on subglacial geology

stagnation of ice stream c west antarctica by water piracy the dynamic behavior of the west antarctic ice sheet is of interest because of the possibility that it may change and cause rapid sea level rise attention is focused on the fast moving and rapidly responding ice streams that drain the ice sheet one of these ice stream c largely stopped about a century ago and some models for this shutdown postulate negative feedbacks that would tend to stabilize the ice sheet here new data are presented indicating that the slowdown of the ice stream is restricted to its lower part and occurred because of loss of lubrication on localized sticky spots at the bed of the ice stream the increased friction probably arises from a topographic accident of the glacier bed that has directed lubricating water to the neighboring ice stream b together with slow drawdown of the ice sheet rather than from any general stabilizing feedbacks

glacial erosion status and outlook glacier erosion rates range across orders of magnitude and much of this variation cannot be attributed to basal sliding rates subglacial till acts as lubricating fault gouge or sawdust and must be removed for rapid subglacial bedrock erosion such erosion occurs especially where and when moulin fed streams access the bed and are unconstrained by supercooling or other processes streams also may directly erode bedrock likely with strong time evolution erosion is primarily by quarrying aided by strong fluctuations in the water system driven by variable surface melt and by subglacial earthquakes debris bed friction significantly affects abrasion quarrying and general glacier flow frost heave drives cirque headwall erosion as winter cold air enters bergschrunds creating temperature gradients to drive water flow along premelted films to growing ice lenses that fracture rock and the glacier removes the resulting blocks recent subglacial bedrock erosion and sediment flux are in many cases much higher than long term averages over glacial cycles evolution of glacial valley form feeds back strongly on erosion and deposition most of this is poorly quantified with parts open to argument glacial erosion and interactions are important to tectonic and volcanic processes as well as climate and biogeochemical fluxes motivating vigorous research

basal conditions on rutford ice stream west antarctica from seismic observations a seismic reflection profile perpendicular to the ice flow direction has been acquired on rutford ice stream antarctica an interpretation of both the amplitude and phase of the seismic reflections from the ice bed interface has been made to investigate the properties of the sub ice material the interpretation assumes that acoustic impedance can be used to imply subglacial sediment porosity multiple reflections from the ice bed interface on a number of seismic wide angle lines allowed a calibration of the reflection coefficient at the bed this enabled the acoustic impedance of the bed material to be calculated from the seismic reflection data mean acoustic impedance in the different sections of the bed ranges from 2 70 106 kg m 2 s 1 to 4 31 106 kg m 2 s 1 almost three quarters of the ice stream bed at this site appears to be saturated deforming sediments the rest of the bed is probably also saturated sediments but they are not deforming to any significant degree ice flow could include a combination of subglacial deformation and basal sliding localized regions which support disproportionately high amounts of basal shear stress may also occur from the seismic data it is not possible to apportion relative amounts of restraint to these different processes there does not appear to be any correlation between the different sections identified on the ice stream bed with either satellite images or nearby surface velocity data a feature which is interpreted as a subglacial drumlin is seen on the seismic section

mass balance of polar ice sheets recent advances in the determination of the mass balance of polar ice sheets show that the greenland ice sheet is losing mass by near coastal thinning and that the west antarctic ice sheet with thickening in the west and thinning in the north is probably thinning overall the mass imbalance of the east antarctic ice sheet is likely to be small but even its sign cannot yet be determined large sectors of ice in southeast greenland the amundsen sea embayment of west antarctica and the antarctic peninsula are changing quite rapidly as a result of processes not yet understood

sedimentary processes at the base of a west antarctic ice stream constraints from textural and compositional properties of subglacial debris samples of sediments from beneath ice stream b at camp upb west antarctica provide the first opportunity to study the relationship between sediment properties and physical conditions in a sub ice stream environment piston coring in holes bored by hot water drilling yielded five 1 3 m long undisturbed subglacial sediment cores we analyzed granulometry composition and particle morphology in these cores the upb cores are composed of a clay rich unsorted diamicton containing rare marine diatoms sedimentary particles in these cores bear no evidence of the recent crushing or abrasion that is common in other subglacial sedimentary environments the presence of reworked diatoms and their state of preservation as well as the relative spatial homogeneity of this diamicton suggest that the upb cores sampled a several meter thick till layer and not in situ glacimarine sediments the till does incorporate material recycled from the subjacent poorly indurated tertiary glacimarine sediments of the ross sea sedimentary basin which extends beneath this part of the west antarctic ice sheet we propose that the lack of significant comminution in the upb till is ultimately due to its setting over these easily erodible clay rich source sediments the resulting fine grained till matrix inhibits glacial comminution because it facilitates buildup of high pore water pressures and hinders interparticle stress concentrations our observations are consistent with the conjecture that subglacial deformation of weak fine grained tills does not produce significant comminution of till debris elson 1988 based on our findings we hypothesize that extensive layers of weak till may develop preferentially where ice overrides preexisting poorly indurated fine grained sediments since such weak till layers create a permissive condition for ice streaming sub glacial geology may have an indirect but strong control over the location extent and basal mechanics of ice streams