Articles | Volume 19, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3725-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-3725-2025
Research article
 | 
12 Sep 2025
Research article |  | 12 Sep 2025

Groundwater dynamics beneath a marine ice sheet

Gabriel J. Cairns, Graham P. Benham, and Ian J. Hewitt

Cited articles

Aitken, A. R. A., Li, L., Kulessa, B., Schroeder, D., Jordan, T. A., Whittaker, J. M., Anandakrishnan, S., Dawson, E. J., Wiens, D. A., Eisen, O., and Siegert, M. J.: Antarctic sedimentary basins and their influence on ice-sheet dynamics, Rev. Geophys., 61, e2021RG000767, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021RG000767, 2023. a
Aquilina, L., Vergnaud-Ayraud, V., Les Landes, A. A., Pauwels, H., Davy, P., Pételet-Giraud, E., Labasque, T., Roques, C., Chatton, E., Bour, O., Ben Maamar, S., Dufresne, A., Khaska, M., Le Gal La Salle, C., and Barbecot, F.: Impact of climate changes during the last 5 million years on groundwater in basement aquifers, Sci. Rep.-UK, 5, 14132, https://doi.org/10.1038/srep14132, 2015. a, b
Bear, J.: Dynamics of fluids in porous media, Courier Corporation, ISBN 978-0-486-65675-5, 2013. a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h
Bougamont, M., Price, S., Christoffersen, P., and Payne, A.: Dynamic patterns of ice stream flow in a 3-D higher-order ice sheet model with plastic bed and simplified hydrology, J. Geophys. Res.-Earth, 116, F04018, https://doi.org/10.1029/2011JF002025, 2011. a
Cairns, G.: Groundwater dynamics beneath a marine ice sheet – code, Zenodo [code and data set], https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15737168, 2024a. a
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Short summary
Thick layers of porous rock known as sedimentary basins lie underneath many glaciers in Antarctica that flow into the sea. These layers contain large amounts of groundwater, some of which is seawater. We use a mathematical model to predict how groundwater flows through these basins, finding that seawater can become trapped due to changes in the ice sheet over time. We also predict where water flows out of (or into) these basins, and we discuss possible implications for the glacier.
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