Greenland supraglacial catchment consolidation by streams breaching drainage divides

Mejia, Jessica; Gulley, Jason; Trunz, Celia; Breithaupt, Charles; Covington, Matthew

doi:10.5194/tc-19-6445-2025

Articles | Volume 19, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6445-2025

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

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-19-6445-2025

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

Articles | Volume 19, issue 12

Research article

|

03 Dec 2025

Research article |

| 03 Dec 2025

Greenland supraglacial catchment consolidation by streams breaching drainage divides

Jessica Mejia, Jason Gulley, Celia Trunz, Charles Breithaupt, and Matthew Covington

Data sets

Supraglacial stream mapping and elevation determination for two mid-elevation catchments in the Paakitsoq region of the western Greenland Ice Sheet, 2017 J. Mejia and J. Gulley https://doi.org/10.18739/A2DR2P99W

ArcticDEM, Version 3 C. Porter et al. https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/OHHUKH

Short summary

This study shows that drainage catchments on the Greenland Ice Sheet can change size and shape from year to year. Snow buildup in glacier rivers can reroute meltwater, merging neighboring catchments. Over three years, three catchments combined into one large 32 km² catchment, increasing in size by 387%. These findings suggest that seasonal changes in snow and water flow can significantly affect how the ice sheet drains, with potential impacts on ice dynamics.