Evolution of the firn pack of Kaskawulsh Glacier, Yukon: meltwater effects, densification, and the development of a perennial firn aquifer

Ochwat, Naomi E.; Marshall, Shawn J.; Moorman, Brian J.; Criscitiello, Alison S.; Copland, Luke

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2021-2021

Articles | Volume 15, issue 4

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2021-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2021-2021

© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 4

Research article

|

23 Apr 2021

Research article |

| 23 Apr 2021

Evolution of the firn pack of Kaskawulsh Glacier, Yukon: meltwater effects, densification, and the development of a perennial firn aquifer

Naomi E. Ochwat, Shawn J. Marshall, Brian J. Moorman, Alison S. Criscitiello, and Luke Copland

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2021-2021-supplement

Model code and software

MATLAB code for firn thermodynamic and hydrological modelling S. Marshall https://doi.org/10.5683/SP2/WRWJAZ

Video supplement

Kaskawulsh Glacier Firn Cores Naomi Ochwat https://doi.org/10.5446/50918

Kaskawulsh Firn Core Drilling Naomi Ochwat https://doi.org/10.5446/50919

Short summary

In May 2018 we drilled into Kaskawulsh Glacier to study how it is being affected by climate warming and used models to investigate the evolution of the firn since the 1960s. We found that the accumulation zone has experienced increased melting that has refrozen as ice layers and has formed a perennial firn aquifer. These results better inform climate-induced changes on northern glaciers and variables to take into account when estimating glacier mass change using remote-sensing methods.