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Photo of Hakim Abdi

Hakim Abdi

Researcher

Photo of Hakim Abdi

Deformation, warming and softening of Greenland’s ice by refreezing meltwater

Author

  • Robin Bell
  • Kirsteen Tinto
  • Indrani Das
  • Michael Wolovick
  • Winnie Chu
  • Timothy Creyts
  • Nicholas Fearson
  • Hakim Abdi
  • John Paden

Summary, in English

Meltwater beneath the large ice sheets can influence ice flow by lubrication at the base or by softening when meltwater refreezes to form relatively warm ice. Refreezing has produced large basal ice units in East Antarctica. Bubble-free basal ice units also outcrop at the edge of the Greenland ice sheet5, but the extent of refreezing and its influence on Greenland’s ice flow dynamics are unknown. Here we demonstrate that refreezing of meltwater produces distinct basal ice units throughout northern Greenland with thicknesses of up to 1,100 m. We compare airborne gravity data with modelled gravity anomalies to show that these basal units are ice. Using radar data we determine the extent of the units, which significantly disrupt the overlying ice sheet stratigraphy. The units consist of refrozen basal water commonly surrounded by heavily deformed meteoric ice derived from snowfall. We map these units along the ice sheet margins where surface melt is the largest source of water, as well as in the interior where basal melting is the only source of water. Beneath Petermann Glacier, basal units coincide with the onset of fast flow and channels in the floating ice tongue. We suggest that refreezing of meltwater and the resulting deformation of the surrounding basal ice warms the Greenland ice sheet, modifying the temperature structure of the ice column and influencing ice flow and grounding line melting.

Publishing year

2014

Language

English

Pages

497-502

Publication/Series

Nature Geoscience

Volume

7

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Nature Publishing Group

Topic

  • Physical Geography
  • Environmental Sciences
  • Geophysics
  • Remote Sensing

Keywords

  • Greenland
  • Arctic
  • Climate research
  • Remote sensing

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 1752-0908