Articles | Volume 18, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-525-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-525-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
08 Feb 2024
Research article |
| 08 Feb 2024
| 08 Feb 2024
Seasonal to decadal dynamics of supraglacial lakes on debris-covered glaciers in the Khumbu region, Nepal
Lucas Zeller
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Geosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Daniel McGrath
Department of Geosciences, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
Scott W. McCoy
Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
Jonathan Jacquet
Department of Geological Sciences and Engineering, University of Nevada, Reno, NV 89557, USA
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Randall Bonnell, Daniel McGrath, Jack Tarricone, Hans-Peter Marshall, Ella Bump, Caroline Duncan, Stephanie Kampf, Yunling Lou, Alex Olsen-Mikitowicz, Megan Sears, Keith Williams, Lucas Zeller, and Yang Zheng
The Cryosphere, 18, 3765–3785, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3765-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3765-2024, 2024
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Snow provides water for billions of people, but the amount of snow is difficult to detect remotely. During the 2020 and 2021 winters, a radar was flown over mountains in Colorado, USA, to measure the amount of snow on the ground, while our team collected ground observations to test the radar technique’s capabilities. The technique yielded accurate measurements of the snowpack that had good correlation with ground measurements, making it a promising application for the upcoming NISAR satellite.
Randall Bonnell, Daniel McGrath, Jack Tarricone, Hans-Peter Marshall, Ella Bump, Caroline Duncan, Stephanie Kampf, Yunling Lou, Alex Olsen-Mikitowicz, Megan Sears, Keith Williams, Lucas Zeller, and Yang Zheng
The Cryosphere, 18, 3765–3785, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3765-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3765-2024, 2024
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Snow provides water for billions of people, but the amount of snow is difficult to detect remotely. During the 2020 and 2021 winters, a radar was flown over mountains in Colorado, USA, to measure the amount of snow on the ground, while our team collected ground observations to test the radar technique’s capabilities. The technique yielded accurate measurements of the snowpack that had good correlation with ground measurements, making it a promising application for the upcoming NISAR satellite.
Tate G. Meehan, Ahmad Hojatimalekshah, Hans-Peter Marshall, Elias J. Deeb, Shad O'Neel, Daniel McGrath, Ryan W. Webb, Randall Bonnell, Mark S. Raleigh, Christopher Hiemstra, and Kelly Elder
The Cryosphere, 18, 3253–3276, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3253-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3253-2024, 2024
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Snow water equivalent (SWE) is a critical parameter for yearly water supply forecasting and can be calculated by multiplying the snow depth by the snow density. We combined high-spatial-resolution snow depth information with ground-based radar measurements to solve for snow density. Extrapolated density estimates over our study area resolved detailed patterns that agree with the known interactions of snow with wind, terrain, and vegetation and were utilized in the calculation of SWE.
Alton C. Byers, Marcelo Somos-Valenzuela, Dan H. Shugar, Daniel McGrath, Mohan B. Chand, and Ram Avtar
The Cryosphere, 18, 711–717, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-711-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-711-2024, 2024
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In spite of enhanced technologies, many large cryospheric events remain unreported because of their remoteness, inaccessibility, or poor communications. In this Brief communication, we report on a large ice-debris avalanche that occurred sometime between 16 and 21 August 2022 in the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA), eastern Nepal.
Baptiste Vandecrux, Jason E. Box, Andreas P. Ahlstrøm, Signe B. Andersen, Nicolas Bayou, William T. Colgan, Nicolas J. Cullen, Robert S. Fausto, Dominik Haas-Artho, Achim Heilig, Derek A. Houtz, Penelope How, Ionut Iosifescu Enescu, Nanna B. Karlsson, Rebecca Kurup Buchholz, Kenneth D. Mankoff, Daniel McGrath, Noah P. Molotch, Bianca Perren, Maiken K. Revheim, Anja Rutishauser, Kevin Sampson, Martin Schneebeli, Sandy Starkweather, Simon Steffen, Jeff Weber, Patrick J. Wright, Henry Jay Zwally, and Konrad Steffen
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 5467–5489, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5467-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-5467-2023, 2023
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The Greenland Climate Network (GC-Net) comprises stations that have been monitoring the weather on the Greenland Ice Sheet for over 30 years. These stations are being replaced by newer ones maintained by the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS). The historical data were reprocessed to improve their quality, and key information about the weather stations has been compiled. This augmented dataset is available at https://doi.org/10.22008/FK2/VVXGUT (Steffen et al., 2022).
Luke A. McGuire, Scott W. McCoy, Odin Marc, William Struble, and Katherine R. Barnhart
Earth Surf. Dynam., 11, 1117–1143, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-1117-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-11-1117-2023, 2023
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Debris flows are mixtures of mud and rocks that can travel at high speeds across steep landscapes. Here, we propose a new model to describe how landscapes are shaped by debris flow erosion over long timescales. Model results demonstrate that the shapes of channel profiles are sensitive to uplift rate, meaning that it may be possible to use topographic data from steep channel networks to infer how erosion rates vary across a landscape.
Brianna Rick, Daniel McGrath, William Armstrong, and Scott W. McCoy
The Cryosphere, 16, 297–314, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-297-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-297-2022, 2022
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Glacial lakes impact societies as both resources and hazards. Lakes form, grow, and drain as glaciers thin and retreat, and understanding lake evolution is a critical first step in assessing their hazard potential. We map glacial lakes in Alaska between 1984 and 2019. Overall, lakes grew in number and area, though lakes with different damming material (ice, moraine, bedrock) behaved differently. Namely, ice-dammed lakes decreased in number and area, a trend lost if dam type is not considered.
Helen W. Beeson and Scott W. McCoy
Earth Surf. Dynam., 8, 123–159, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-123-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-8-123-2020, 2020
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We used a computer model to show that, when a landscape is tilted, rivers respond in a distinct way such that river profiles take on unique forms that record tilt timing and magnitude. Using this suite of river forms, we estimated tilt timing and magnitude in the Sierra Nevada, USA, and results were consistent with independent measures. Our work broadens the scope of tectonic histories that can be extracted from landscape form to include tilting, which has been documented in diverse locations.
Daniel McGrath, Louis Sass, Shad O'Neel, Chris McNeil, Salvatore G. Candela, Emily H. Baker, and Hans-Peter Marshall
The Cryosphere, 12, 3617–3633, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3617-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-3617-2018, 2018
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Measuring the amount and spatial pattern of snow on glaciers is essential for monitoring glacier mass balance and quantifying the water budget of glacierized basins. Using repeat radar surveys for 5 consecutive years, we found that the spatial pattern in snow distribution is stable over the majority of the glacier and scales with the glacier-wide average. Our findings support the use of sparse stake networks for effectively measuring interannual variability in winter balance on glaciers.
Gregory E. Tucker, Scott W. McCoy, and Daniel E. J. Hobley
Earth Surf. Dynam., 6, 563–582, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-563-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/esurf-6-563-2018, 2018
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This article presents a new technique for computer simulation of slope forms. The method provides a way to study how events that disturb soil or turn rock into soil add up over time to produce landforms. The model represents a cross section of a hypothetical landform as a lattice of cells, each of which may represent air, soil, or rock. Despite its simplicity, the model does a good job of simulating a range of common of natural slope forms.
Suzanne L. Bevan, Adrian Luckman, Bryn Hubbard, Bernd Kulessa, David Ashmore, Peter Kuipers Munneke, Martin O'Leary, Adam Booth, Heidi Sevestre, and Daniel McGrath
The Cryosphere, 11, 2743–2753, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2743-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2743-2017, 2017
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Five 90 m boreholes drilled into an Antarctic Peninsula ice shelf show units of ice that are denser than expected and must have formed from refrozen surface melt which has been buried and transported downstream. We used surface flow speeds and snow accumulation rates to work out where and when these units formed. Results show that, as well as recent surface melt, a period of strong melt occurred during the 18th century. Surface melt is thought to be a factor in causing recent ice-shelf break-up.
Peter Kuipers Munneke, Daniel McGrath, Brooke Medley, Adrian Luckman, Suzanne Bevan, Bernd Kulessa, Daniela Jansen, Adam Booth, Paul Smeets, Bryn Hubbard, David Ashmore, Michiel Van den Broeke, Heidi Sevestre, Konrad Steffen, Andrew Shepherd, and Noel Gourmelen
The Cryosphere, 11, 2411–2426, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2411-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2411-2017, 2017
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How much snow falls on the Larsen C ice shelf? This is a relevant question, because this ice shelf might collapse sometime this century. To know if and when this could happen, we found out how much snow falls on its surface. This was difficult, because there are only very few measurements. Here, we used data from automatic weather stations, sled-pulled radars, and a climate model to find that melting the annual snowfall produces about 20 cm of water in the NE and over 70 cm in the SW.
Related subject area
Discipline: Glaciers | Subject: Glacier Hydrology
Hydrological response of Andean catchments to recent glacier mass loss
Characterizing sub-glacial hydrology using radar simulations
Velocity variations and hydrological drainage at Baltoro Glacier, Pakistan
A conceptual model for glacial lake bathymetric distribution
The evolution of isolated cavities and hydraulic connection at the glacier bed – Part 1: Steady states and friction laws
The evolution of isolated cavities and hydraulic connection at the glacier bed – Part 2: A dynamic viscoelastic model
The impact of surface melt rate and catchment characteristics on Greenland Ice Sheet moulin inputs
Evaporation over a glacial lake in Antarctica
A local model of snow–firn dynamics and application to the Colle Gnifetti site
Accumulation of legacy fallout radionuclides in cryoconite on Isfallsglaciären (Arctic Sweden) and their downstream spatial distribution
Drainage of an ice-dammed lake through a supraglacial stream: hydraulics and thermodynamics
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Geophysical constraints on the properties of a subglacial lake in northwest Greenland
Gulf of Alaska ice-marginal lake area change over the Landsat record and potential physical controls
Sensitivity of subglacial drainage to water supply distribution at the Kongsfjord basin, Svalbard
Buoyant calving and ice-contact lake evolution at Pasterze Glacier (Austria) in the period 1998–2019
An analysis of instabilities and limit cycles in glacier-dammed reservoirs
Coupled modelling of subglacial hydrology and calving-front melting at Store Glacier, West Greenland
Channelized, distributed, and disconnected: subglacial drainage under a valley glacier in the Yukon
Alexis Caro, Thomas Condom, Antoine Rabatel, Nicolas Champollion, Nicolás García, and Freddy Saavedra
The Cryosphere, 18, 2487–2507, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2487-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-2487-2024, 2024
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The glacier runoff changes are still unknown in most of the Andean catchments, thereby increasing uncertainties in estimating water availability, especially during the dry season. Here, we simulate glacier evolution and related glacier runoff changes across the Andes between 2000 and 2019. Our results indicate a glacier reduction in 93 % of the catchments, leading to a 12 % increase in glacier melt. These results can be downloaded and integrated with discharge measurements in each catchment.
Chris Pierce, Christopher Gerekos, Mark Skidmore, Lucas Beem, Don Blankenship, Won Sang Lee, Ed Adams, Choon-Ki Lee, and Jamey Stutz
The Cryosphere, 18, 1495–1515, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1495-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1495-2024, 2024
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Water beneath glaciers in Antarctica can influence how the ice slides or melts. Airborne radar can detect this water, which looks bright in radar images. However, common techniques cannot identify the water's size or shape. We used a simulator to show how the radar image changes based on the bed material, size, and shape of the waterbody. This technique was applied to a suspected waterbody beneath Thwaites Glacier. We found it may be consistent with a series of wide, flat canals or a lake.
Anna Wendleder, Jasmin Bramboeck, Jamie Izzard, Thilo Erbertseder, Pablo d'Angelo, Andreas Schmitt, Duncan J. Quincey, Christoph Mayer, and Matthias H. Braun
The Cryosphere, 18, 1085–1103, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1085-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-1085-2024, 2024
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This study analyses the basal sliding and the hydrological drainage of Baltoro Glacier, Pakistan. The surface velocity was characterized by a spring speed-up, summer peak, and autumn speed-up. Snow melt has the largest impact on the spring speed-up, summer velocity peak, and the transition from inefficient to efficient drainage. Drainage from supraglacial lakes contributed to the fall speed-up. Increased summer temperatures will intensify the magnitude of meltwater and thus surface velocities.
Taigang Zhang, Weicai Wang, and Baosheng An
The Cryosphere, 17, 5137–5154, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5137-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-5137-2023, 2023
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Detailed glacial lake bathymetry surveys are essential for accurate glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) simulation and risk assessment. We creatively developed a conceptual model for glacial lake bathymetric distribution. The basic idea is that the statistical glacial lake volume–area curves conform to a power-law relationship indicating that the idealized geometric shape of the glacial lake basin should be hemispheres or cones.
Christian Schoof
The Cryosphere, 17, 4797–4815, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4797-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4797-2023, 2023
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Computational models that seek to predict the future behaviour of ice sheets and glaciers typically rely on being able to compute the rate at which a glacier slides over its bed. In this paper, I show that the degree to which the glacier bed is
hydraulically connected(how easily water can flow along the glacier bed) plays a central role in determining how fast ice can slide.
Christian Schoof
The Cryosphere, 17, 4817–4836, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4817-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-4817-2023, 2023
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The subglacial drainage of meltwater plays a major role in regulating glacier and ice sheet flow. In this paper, I construct and solve a mathematical model that describes how connections are made within the subglacial drainage system. This will aid future efforts to predict glacier response to surface melt supply.
Tim Hill and Christine F. Dow
The Cryosphere, 17, 2607–2624, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2607-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-2607-2023, 2023
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Water flow across the surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet controls the rate of water flow to the glacier bed. Here, we simulate surface water flow for a small catchment on the southwestern Greenland Ice Sheet. Our simulations predict significant differences in the form of surface water flow in high and low melt years depending on the rate and intensity of surface melt. These model outputs will be important in future work assessing the impact of surface water flow on subglacial water pressure.
Elena Shevnina, Miguel Potes, Timo Vihma, Tuomas Naakka, Pankaj Ramji Dhote, and Praveen Kumar Thakur
The Cryosphere, 16, 3101–3121, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3101-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-3101-2022, 2022
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The evaporation over an ice-free glacial lake was measured in January 2018, and the uncertainties inherent to five indirect methods were quantified. Results show that in summer up to 5 mm of water evaporated daily from the surface of the lake located in Antarctica. The indirect methods underestimated the evaporation over the lake's surface by up to 72 %. The results are important for estimating the evaporation over polar regions where a growing number of glacial lakes have recently been evident.
Fabiola Banfi and Carlo De Michele
The Cryosphere, 16, 1031–1056, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1031-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-1031-2022, 2022
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Climate changes require a dynamic description of glaciers in hydrological models. In this study we focus on the local modelling of snow and firn. We tested our model at the site of Colle Gnifetti, 4400–4550 m a.s.l. The model shows that wind erodes all the precipitation of the cold months, while snow is in part conserved between April and September since higher temperatures protect snow from erosion. We also compared modelled and observed firn density, obtaining a satisfying agreement.
Caroline C. Clason, Will H. Blake, Nick Selmes, Alex Taylor, Pascal Boeckx, Jessica Kitch, Stephanie C. Mills, Giovanni Baccolo, and Geoffrey E. Millward
The Cryosphere, 15, 5151–5168, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5151-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5151-2021, 2021
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Our paper presents results of sample collection and subsequent geochemical analyses from the glaciated Isfallsglaciären catchment in Arctic Sweden. The data suggest that material found on the surface of glaciers,
cryoconite, is very efficient at accumulating products of nuclear fallout transported in the atmosphere following events such as the Chernobyl disaster. We investigate how this compares with samples in the downstream environment and consider potential environmental implications.
Christophe Ogier, Mauro A. Werder, Matthias Huss, Isabelle Kull, David Hodel, and Daniel Farinotti
The Cryosphere, 15, 5133–5150, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5133-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-5133-2021, 2021
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Glacier-dammed lakes are prone to draining rapidly when the ice dam breaks and constitute a serious threat to populations downstream. Such a lake drainage can proceed through an open-air channel at the glacier surface. In this study, we present what we believe to be the most complete dataset to date of an ice-dammed lake drainage through such an open-air channel. We provide new insights for future glacier-dammed lake drainage modelling studies and hazard assessments.
Eyjólfur Magnússon, Finnur Pálsson, Magnús T. Gudmundsson, Thórdís Högnadóttir, Cristian Rossi, Thorsteinn Thorsteinsson, Benedikt G. Ófeigsson, Erik Sturkell, and Tómas Jóhannesson
The Cryosphere, 15, 3731–3749, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3731-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3731-2021, 2021
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We present a unique insight into the shape and development of a subglacial lake over a 7-year period, using repeated radar survey. The lake collects geothermal meltwater, which is released in semi-regular floods, often referred to as jökulhlaups. The applicability of our survey approach to monitor the water stored in the lake for a better assessment of the potential hazard of jökulhlaups is demonstrated by comparison with independent measurements of released water volume during two jökulhlaups.
Ross Maguire, Nicholas Schmerr, Erin Pettit, Kiya Riverman, Christyna Gardner, Daniella N. DellaGiustina, Brad Avenson, Natalie Wagner, Angela G. Marusiak, Namrah Habib, Juliette I. Broadbeck, Veronica J. Bray, and Samuel H. Bailey
The Cryosphere, 15, 3279–3291, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3279-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3279-2021, 2021
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In the last decade, airborne radar surveys have revealed the presence of lakes below the Greenland ice sheet. However, little is known about their properties, including their depth and the volume of water they store. We performed a ground-based geophysics survey in northwestern Greenland and, for the first time, were able to image the depth of a subglacial lake and estimate its volume. Our findings have implications for the thermal state and stability of the ice sheet in northwest Greenland.
Hannah R. Field, William H. Armstrong, and Matthias Huss
The Cryosphere, 15, 3255–3278, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3255-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-3255-2021, 2021
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The growth of a glacier lake alters the hydrology, ecology, and glaciology of its surrounding region. We investigate modern glacier lake area change across northwestern North America using repeat satellite imagery. Broadly, we find that lakes downstream from glaciers grew, while lakes dammed by glaciers shrunk. Our results suggest that the shape of the landscape surrounding a glacier lake plays a larger role in determining how quickly a lake changes than climatic or glaciologic factors.
Chloé Scholzen, Thomas V. Schuler, and Adrien Gilbert
The Cryosphere, 15, 2719–2738, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2719-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-2719-2021, 2021
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We use a two-dimensional model of water flow below the glaciers in Kongsfjord, Svalbard, to investigate how different processes of surface-to-bed meltwater transfer affect subglacial hydraulic conditions. The latter are important for the sliding motion of glaciers, which in some cases exhibit huge variations. Our findings indicate that the glaciers in our study area undergo substantial sliding because water is poorly evacuated from their base, with limited influence from the surface hydrology.
Andreas Kellerer-Pirklbauer, Michael Avian, Douglas I. Benn, Felix Bernsteiner, Philipp Krisch, and Christian Ziesler
The Cryosphere, 15, 1237–1258, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1237-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1237-2021, 2021
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Present climate warming leads to glacier recession and formation of lakes. We studied the nature and rate of lake evolution in the period 1998–2019 at Pasterze Glacier, Austria. We detected for instance several large-scale and rapidly occurring ice-breakup events from below the water level. This process, previously not reported from the European Alps, might play an important role at alpine glaciers in the future as many glaciers are expected to recede into valley basins allowing lake formation.
Christian Schoof
The Cryosphere, 14, 3175–3194, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3175-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3175-2020, 2020
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Glacier lake outburst floods are major glacial hazards in which ice-dammed reservoirs rapidly drain, often in a recurring fashion. The main flood phase typically involves a growing channel being eroded into ice by water flow. What is poorly understood is how that channel first comes into being. In this paper, I investigate how an under-ice drainage system composed of small, naturally occurring voids can turn into a channel and how this can explain the cyclical behaviour of outburst floods.
Samuel J. Cook, Poul Christoffersen, Joe Todd, Donald Slater, and Nolwenn Chauché
The Cryosphere, 14, 905–924, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-905-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-905-2020, 2020
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This paper models how water flows beneath a large Greenlandic glacier and how the structure of the drainage system it flows in changes over time. We also look at how this affects melting driven by freshwater plumes at the glacier front, as well as the implications for glacier flow and sea-level rise. We find an active drainage system and plumes exist year round, contradicting previous assumptions and suggesting more melting may not slow the glacier down, unlike at other sites in Greenland.
Camilo Rada and Christian Schoof
The Cryosphere, 12, 2609–2636, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2609-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-2609-2018, 2018
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We analyse a large glacier borehole pressure dataset and provide a holistic view of the observations, suggesting a consistent picture of the evolution of the subglacial drainage system. Some aspects are consistent with the established understanding and others ones are not. We propose that most of the inconsistencies arise from the capacity of some areas of the bed to become hydraulically isolated. We present an adaptation of an existing drainage model that incorporates this phenomena.
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Short summary
In this study we developed methods for automatically identifying supraglacial lakes in multiple satellite imagery sources for eight glaciers in Nepal. We identified a substantial seasonal variability in lake area, which was as large as the variability seen across entire decades. These complex patterns are not captured in existing regional-scale datasets. Our findings show that this seasonal variability must be accounted for in order to interpret long-term changes in debris-covered glaciers.
In this study we developed methods for automatically identifying supraglacial lakes in multiple...
