Radar sounding survey over Devon Ice Cap indicates the potential for a diverse hypersaline subglacial hydrological environment

Rutishauser, Anja; Blankenship, Donald D.; Young, Duncan A.; Wolfenbarger, Natalie S.; Beem, Lucas H.; Skidmore, Mark L.; Dubnick, Ashley; Criscitiello, Alison S.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-379-2022

Articles | Volume 16, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-379-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-379-2022

© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 2

Research article

| Highlight paper

|

02 Feb 2022

Research article | Highlight paper |

| 02 Feb 2022

Radar sounding survey over Devon Ice Cap indicates the potential for a diverse hypersaline subglacial hydrological environment

Anja Rutishauser, Donald D. Blankenship, Duncan A. Young, Natalie S. Wolfenbarger, Lucas H. Beem, Mark L. Skidmore, Ashley Dubnick, and Alison S. Criscitiello

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-379-2022-supplement

Data sets

Data and derived products from airborne radar sounding survey over Devon Ice Cap, Canadian Arctic Anja Rutishauser, Donald D. Blankenship, Duncan A. Young, Natalie S. Wolfenbarger, Lucas H. Beem, Mark L. Skidmore, Ashley Dubnick, Alison S. Criscitiello, Dillon P. Buhl, Thomas G. Richter, and Gregory Ng https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5795105

Short summary

Recently, a hypersaline subglacial lake complex was hypothesized to lie beneath Devon Ice Cap, Canadian Arctic. Here, we present results from a follow-on targeted aerogeophysical survey. Our results support the evidence for a hypersaline subglacial lake and reveal an extensive brine network, suggesting more complex subglacial hydrological conditions than previously inferred. This hypersaline system may host microbial habitats, making it a compelling analog for bines on other icy worlds.