Articles | Volume 19, issue 8
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3009-2025
© Author(s) 2025. 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-19-3009-2025
© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Insights into supraglacial lake drainage dynamics: triangular fracture formation, reactivation and long-lasting englacial features
Section Glaciology, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany
Faculty of Geosciences, University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany
Veit Helm
Section Glaciology, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany
Ole Zeising
Section Glaciology, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany
Niklas Neckel
Section Glaciology, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany
Matthias H. Braun
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Institut für Geographie, Erlangen, Germany
Shfaqat Abbas Khan
DTU Space, National Space Institute, Technical University of Denmark, Department of Geodesy and Earth Observations, Copenhagen, Denmark
Martin Rückamp
Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Geodesy and Glaciology, Munich, Germany
Holger Steeb
Institute of Applied Mechanics (CE), University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
SC SimTech, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
Julia Sohn
Section Glaciology, Alfred-Wegener-Institut Helmholtz-Zentrum für Polar- und Meeresforschung, Bremerhaven, Germany
Department IT and Engineering, IU International University of Applied Sciences, Erfurt, Germany
Matthias Bohnen
Division of Continuum Mechanics, Institute for Mechanics, Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
Ralf Müller
Division of Continuum Mechanics, Institute for Mechanics, Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany
Data sets
Supraglacial lake drainage through fractures A. Humbert et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.974774
Co-editor-in-chief
This paper presents a multi-year, multi-method survey of a very large surface melt feature in Northeast Greenland. The feature includes a supraglacial lake that drains into the englacial and subglacial system of the Nioghalvfjerdsfjorden glacier, adding a volume of up to 1.23 * 10^8 m3 of water to the bed of the glacier. The drainage causes uplift of the local area and likely impacts glacier dynamics by lubricating the base. Notably, the authors argue that this feature has only existed since the 1990s, when increased air temperatures led to enhanced surface melt. In this way, the glacier surface has been transformed from lake-free to undergoing frequent, abrupt drainage
This paper presents a multi-year, multi-method survey of a very large surface melt feature in...
Short summary
We study the evolution of a massive lake on the Greenland Ice Sheet using satellite and airborne data and some modelling. The lake is emptying rapidly. Water flows to the glacier's base through cracks and triangular-shaped moulins that remain visible over the years. Some of them become reactivated. We find features inside the glacier that stem from drainage events with a width of even 1 km. These features are persistent over the years, although they are changing in shape.
We study the evolution of a massive lake on the Greenland Ice Sheet using satellite and airborne...