Seasonal drainage-system evolution beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet inferred from transient speed-up events

Gjerde, Grace; Behn, Mark D.; Stevens, Laura A.; Das, Sarah B.; Joughin, Ian

doi:10.5194/tc-19-6149-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6149-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6149-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 11

Research article

|

25 Nov 2025

Research article |

| 25 Nov 2025

Seasonal drainage-system evolution beneath the Greenland Ice Sheet inferred from transient speed-up events

Grace Gjerde, Mark D. Behn, Laura A. Stevens, Sarah B. Das, and Ian Joughin

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6149-2025-supplement

Data sets

Greenland Fractures 2011-2014 - NL01-North Lake 01 - GPS/GNSS Observations Dataset S. B. Das et al. https://doi.org/10.7283/T5222SJK

Model code and software

Elastic stress coupling between supraglacial lakes L. A. Stevens and S. Larochelle https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.10650188

Short summary

We characterize the magnitude and variability of transient speed-ups across a Global Positioning System (GPS) array in western Greenland in 2011 and 2012. While we find no relationship between speed-up and runoff, late-season events have larger speed-up amplitudes and are more spatially uniform compared to early season events. These results reflect an evolution toward a less efficient drainage system late in the melt season, with a pervasive system of open surface-to-bed conduits.