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Seasonal evolution of subglacial drainage and acceleration in a Greenland outlet glacier

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Bartholomew, Ian, Nienow, Peter, Mair, Douglas, Hubbard, Alun, King, Matt A., Sole, Andrew·2010·Nature Geoscience

Abstract

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.

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Metadata

Authors
Bartholomew, I., Nienow, P., Mair, D., Hubbard, A., King, M. A., & Sole, A.
Venue
Nature Geoscience
Published
2010-05-09
Volume
3
Issue
6
Pages
408-411
ISSN
  • 1752-0894 (ISSN-L)
  • 1752-0908
OpenAlex
W2056039982
Cited by
393
References
0
FWCI
21.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
green

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Seasonal evolution of subglacial drainage and acceleration in a Greenland outlet glacier. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1038/ngeo863
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Bartholomew, I., Nienow, P., Mair, D., Hubbard, A., King, M. A., & Sole, A. (2010). Seasonal evolution of subglacial drainage and acceleration in a Greenland outlet glacier. Nature Geoscience. https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo863

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.