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• 1. [Article] Investigations into the Regional and Local Timescale Variations of Subglacial Drainage Networks

  Subglacial water plays an important role in the regulation of an ice sheet's mass balance. It may be the dominant control on the velocities of ice streams and outlet glaciers on scales of months to millennia. ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Investigations into the Regional and Local Timescale Variations of Subglacial Drainage Networks Author: Hiester, Justin Year: 2013 Subglacial water plays an important role in the regulation of an ice sheet's mass balance. It may be the dominant control on the velocities of ice streams and outlet glaciers on scales of months to millennia. Recent satellite observations of ice surface elevation changes have given researchers new insights into how subglacial water is stored and transported. Localized uplift and settling of the ice surface implies that lakes exist beneath the ice sheet that are being filled and drained on relatively short time scales. %At the base of an ice sheet water can be transported through a variety of drainage networks or stored in subglacial lakes. Here, a numerical investigation of the mechanisms of transport and storage of subglacial water and the associated time scales is presented. Experiments are carried out using a finite element model of coupled ice and water flow. The first experiment seeks to understand the relationship between the depth of a basal depression and the area over which the feature affects basal water flow. It is found that as the perturbation to a topographic depression's depth is increased, water is rerouted in response to the perturbation. Additionally it is found that the relationship between perturbation depth and the extent upstream to which its effects reach is nonlinear. The second experiment examines how the aspect ratio of bed features (prolate, oblate, or equidimensional) influences basal water flow. It is found that the systems that develop and their interactions are mediated by both the topography and the feedbacks taken into account by the coupling of the systems in the model. Features oriented parallel to ice and water flow are associated with distributed fan systems that develop branches which migrate laterally across the domain and interact with one another on monthly and yearly timescales. Laterally oriented features develop laterally extensive ponds. As the ratio of longitudinal to lateral dimension of the topography is increased, a combination of these two water distributions is seen. Title: Investigations into the Regional and Local Timescale Variations of Subglacial Drainage Networks Author: Hiester, Justin Year: 2013 Subglacial water plays an important role in the regulation of an ice sheet's mass balance. It may be the dominant control on the velocities of ice streams and outlet glaciers on scales of months to millennia. Recent satellite observations of ice surface elevation changes have given researchers new insights into how subglacial water is stored and transported. Localized uplift and settling of the ice surface implies that lakes exist beneath the ice sheet that are being filled and drained on relatively short time scales. %At the base of an ice sheet water can be transported through a variety of drainage networks or stored in subglacial lakes. Here, a numerical investigation of the mechanisms of transport and storage of subglacial water and the associated time scales is presented. Experiments are carried out using a finite element model of coupled ice and water flow. The first experiment seeks to understand the relationship between the depth of a basal depression and the area over which the feature affects basal water flow. It is found that as the perturbation to a topographic depression's depth is increased, water is rerouted in response to the perturbation. Additionally it is found that the relationship between perturbation depth and the extent upstream to which its effects reach is nonlinear. The second experiment examines how the aspect ratio of bed features (prolate, oblate, or equidimensional) influences basal water flow. It is found that the systems that develop and their interactions are mediated by both the topography and the feedbacks taken into account by the coupling of the systems in the model. Features oriented parallel to ice and water flow are associated with distributed fan systems that develop branches which migrate laterally across the domain and interact with one another on monthly and yearly timescales. Laterally oriented features develop laterally extensive ponds. As the ratio of longitudinal to lateral dimension of the topography is increased, a combination of these two water distributions is seen. Close

• 2. [Article] Grounding Zone Processes: Ice Mechanics and Margin Lakes, Kamb Ice Stream and Whillans Ice Stream, West Antarctica

  The lateral "corners" where Kamb and Whillans Ice Streams (KIS and WIS) discharge into the Ross Ice Shelf share common geometries and ice mechanical settings. At both corners of the now-stagnant KIS outlet, ...

  Citation × Citation Citation Abstract Copy Title: Grounding Zone Processes: Ice Mechanics and Margin Lakes, Kamb Ice Stream and Whillans Ice Stream, West Antarctica Author: Fried, Mason Joseph Year: 2013 The lateral "corners" where Kamb and Whillans Ice Streams (KIS and WIS) discharge into the Ross Ice Shelf share common geometries and ice mechanical settings. At both corners of the now-stagnant KIS outlet, shear margins of apparently different ages confine regions with a relatively flat, smooth surface expression. These features are called the "Duckfoot" on the northern, right-lateral side and the "Goosefoot" on the other. It has been suggested, on evidence found in ice internal layers, that the flat ice terrains on KIS were afloat in the recent past, at a time when the ice stream grounding line was upstream of its present location. The overdeepening in the bed just upstream of the KIS grounding line supports this view of the past geometry. The right-lateral margin at the outlet of the currently active WIS, the location of Subglacial Lake Englehardt (SLE), appears to have many similarities with the right lateral margin of KIS, though with a less developed looking inboard margin. This paper presents a mechanical analysis using surface and bed topography and velocity datasets comparing the Duckfoot flat ice terrain with the terrain around Subglacial Lake Englehardt. At both locations mechanical thinning along shear margins and lows in the bed topography redirects basal water routing towards the features. Here, I consider the history of these features and their role in ice stream variability by comparison of the relict and modern features and via numerical modeling of ice shelf grounding and ungrounding in response to variations in ice flow. We propose two scenarios for the development of flat ice terrains/subglacial lakes at the outlets of ice streams. In the first, development of a lake in the hydraulic potential low along a shear margin forces a margin jump as shearing develops along the inboard shore of the margin lake. This thesis presents evidence for an inboard (relative to the main outboard shear margin) zone of shear along the inboard shoreline of SLE, suggesting that subglacial lakes along shear margins are capable of facilitating shear margin jumps. In the second, grounding line advance around a relative low in the bed, creating adjacent margins along the lakeshores, forms a remnant lake. Discerning which of these scenarios is appropriate at the KIS outlet has implications for understanding the history of the ice stream grounding line. An ice flow model is used to place these local conditions in a regional context by studying the effect of internal perturbations, such as ice rise stagnation or inward margin jumps, on grounding line position. Bathymetry is important in determining ice stream flow in the ways that might not be otherwise realized in 1-D flow model studies. In the numerical modeling experiments, grounding line advance across the KIS outlet is mediated by the overdeepening in the bed and proceeds not in the direction of ice flow but transverse to flow. This finding adds complexity to both a flowline view of grounding line migration and the theory that grounding lines are unstable in the presence of inward sloping bed topography. Title: Grounding Zone Processes: Ice Mechanics and Margin Lakes, Kamb Ice Stream and Whillans Ice Stream, West Antarctica Author: Fried, Mason Joseph Year: 2013 The lateral "corners" where Kamb and Whillans Ice Streams (KIS and WIS) discharge into the Ross Ice Shelf share common geometries and ice mechanical settings. At both corners of the now-stagnant KIS outlet, shear margins of apparently different ages confine regions with a relatively flat, smooth surface expression. These features are called the "Duckfoot" on the northern, right-lateral side and the "Goosefoot" on the other. It has been suggested, on evidence found in ice internal layers, that the flat ice terrains on KIS were afloat in the recent past, at a time when the ice stream grounding line was upstream of its present location. The overdeepening in the bed just upstream of the KIS grounding line supports this view of the past geometry. The right-lateral margin at the outlet of the currently active WIS, the location of Subglacial Lake Englehardt (SLE), appears to have many similarities with the right lateral margin of KIS, though with a less developed looking inboard margin. This paper presents a mechanical analysis using surface and bed topography and velocity datasets comparing the Duckfoot flat ice terrain with the terrain around Subglacial Lake Englehardt. At both locations mechanical thinning along shear margins and lows in the bed topography redirects basal water routing towards the features. Here, I consider the history of these features and their role in ice stream variability by comparison of the relict and modern features and via numerical modeling of ice shelf grounding and ungrounding in response to variations in ice flow. We propose two scenarios for the development of flat ice terrains/subglacial lakes at the outlets of ice streams. In the first, development of a lake in the hydraulic potential low along a shear margin forces a margin jump as shearing develops along the inboard shore of the margin lake. This thesis presents evidence for an inboard (relative to the main outboard shear margin) zone of shear along the inboard shoreline of SLE, suggesting that subglacial lakes along shear margins are capable of facilitating shear margin jumps. In the second, grounding line advance around a relative low in the bed, creating adjacent margins along the lakeshores, forms a remnant lake. Discerning which of these scenarios is appropriate at the KIS outlet has implications for understanding the history of the ice stream grounding line. An ice flow model is used to place these local conditions in a regional context by studying the effect of internal perturbations, such as ice rise stagnation or inward margin jumps, on grounding line position. Bathymetry is important in determining ice stream flow in the ways that might not be otherwise realized in 1-D flow model studies. In the numerical modeling experiments, grounding line advance across the KIS outlet is mediated by the overdeepening in the bed and proceeds not in the direction of ice flow but transverse to flow. This finding adds complexity to both a flowline view of grounding line migration and the theory that grounding lines are unstable in the presence of inward sloping bed topography. Close