Recent changes in drainage route and outburst magnitude of the Russell Glacier ice-dammed lake, West Greenland

Dømgaard, Mads; Kjeldsen, Kristian K.; Huiban, Flora; Carrivick, Jonathan L.; Khan, Shfaqat A.; Bjørk, Anders A.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1373-2023

Articles | Volume 17, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1373-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-1373-2023

© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 17, issue 3

Research article

|

31 Mar 2023

Research article |

| 31 Mar 2023

Recent changes in drainage route and outburst magnitude of the Russell Glacier ice-dammed lake, West Greenland

Mads Dømgaard, Kristian K. Kjeldsen, Flora Huiban, Jonathan L. Carrivick, Shfaqat A. Khan, and Anders A. Bjørk

Data sets

UAV derived orthomosaics and digital elevation models of drained ice-dammed lake basin topography and ice margin, Russell Glacier, West Greenland, 3-6 Sept. 2021 M. Doemgaard https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.21981731

AWS one boom tripod Edition 3 GEUS Dataverse https://doi.org/10.22008/promice/data/aws

Short summary

Sudden releases of meltwater from glacier-dammed lakes can influence ice flow, cause flooding hazards and landscape changes. This study presents a record of 14 drainages from 2007–2021 from a lake in west Greenland. The time series reveals how the lake fluctuates between releasing large and small amounts of drainage water which is caused by a weakening of the damming glacier following the large events. We also find a shift in the water drainage route which increases the risk of flooding hazards.