TY - JOUR
T1 - Thermodynamics of a fast-moving Greenlandic outlet glacier revealed by fiber-optic distributed temperature sensing
AU - Law, Robert
AU - Christoffersen, Poul
AU - Hubbard, Bryn
AU - Doyle, Samuel H.
AU - Chudley, Thomas R.
AU - Schoonman, Charlotte M.
AU - Bougamont, Marion
AU - des Tombe, Bas
AU - Schilperoort, Bart
AU - Kechavarzi, Cedric
AU - Booth, Adam
AU - Young, Tun Jan
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Measurements of ice temperature provide crucial constraints on ice viscosity and the thermodynamic processes occurring within a glacier. However, such measurements are presently limited by a small number of relatively coarse-spatial-resolution borehole records, especially for ice sheets. Here, we advance our understanding of glacier thermodynamics with an exceptionally high-vertical-resolution (∼0.65 m), distributed-fiber-optic temperature-sensing profile from a 1043-m borehole drilled to the base of Sermeq Kujalleq (Store Glacier), Greenland. We report substantial but isolated strain heating within interglacial-phase ice at 208 to 242 m depth together with strongly heterogeneous ice deformation in glacial-phase ice below 889 m. We also observe a high-strain interface between glacial- and interglacial-phase ice and a 73-m-thick temperate basal layer, interpreted as locally formed and important for the glacier's fast motion. These findings demonstrate notable spatial heterogeneity, both vertically and at the catchment scale, in the conditions facilitating the fast motion of marine-terminating glaciers in Greenland.
AB - Measurements of ice temperature provide crucial constraints on ice viscosity and the thermodynamic processes occurring within a glacier. However, such measurements are presently limited by a small number of relatively coarse-spatial-resolution borehole records, especially for ice sheets. Here, we advance our understanding of glacier thermodynamics with an exceptionally high-vertical-resolution (∼0.65 m), distributed-fiber-optic temperature-sensing profile from a 1043-m borehole drilled to the base of Sermeq Kujalleq (Store Glacier), Greenland. We report substantial but isolated strain heating within interglacial-phase ice at 208 to 242 m depth together with strongly heterogeneous ice deformation in glacial-phase ice below 889 m. We also observe a high-strain interface between glacial- and interglacial-phase ice and a 73-m-thick temperate basal layer, interpreted as locally formed and important for the glacier's fast motion. These findings demonstrate notable spatial heterogeneity, both vertically and at the catchment scale, in the conditions facilitating the fast motion of marine-terminating glaciers in Greenland.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85105914760&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.abe7136
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.abe7136
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85105914760
SN - 2375-2548
VL - 7
SP - 1
EP - 11
JO - Science Advances
JF - Science Advances
IS - 20
M1 - eabe7136
ER -