Document Actions
Ice Sheet Dynamics
Subglacial water and fluxes of water beneath the ice affects ice sheet and ice stream dynamics.
The connection between the location of subglacial lakes and ice domes is poorly understood and further study will test the association through empirical observations and models. Important linkages between ice sheets and underlying subglacial environments will be assessed through:
- observations of the surface manifestation of hydrologic processes;
- borehole observations of basal water; and
- numerical modeling of ice sheet evolution.
- Hydrologic and thermodynamic controls can be tested by model simulations. The role of water circulation, the hydrologic cycle, ice dynamics, and sedimentation in paleoenvironments and paleoclimate will be addressed in a variety of ways. Studies will include:
- identification of the spatial and temporal distribution of free water at the ice-bed;
- observation and modeling of the rates of water and sediment transport through subglacial environments;
- observation and modeling of ice sheet interactions with subglacial water, and
- modeling of the turnover time of subglacial lakes.
Regional geophysical site survey data must be integrated to develop models of subglacial drainage and sedimentation at a variety of temporal and spatial scales. Critical components of predictive climate models need to be improved to account for subglacial interactions. Research on ice sheet dynamics will increase our understanding of subglacial hydrological systems on local, regional, and global scales; explore the relationship between ice sheet stability and fast glacier flow; and assist in reconstructing the development of the Antarctic ice sheet.
Ice Sheets....The Long Version
Scientific questions related to ice sheet dynamics:
- What is the interplay between subglacial lakes and ice sheet dynamics?
- What is the role of ice domes and ice divides in subglacial systems?
- Do ice sheet dynamics exert fundamental controls on the location and stability of subglacial environments?
- How and why do pro-glacial lakes evolve into subglacial lakes under an expanding ice sheet?
- What is the interplay between climate, ice sheet development and history, and the origins, evolution, and microbiological inhabitants of subglacial lakes?
For more details go to....... SALE Glaciohydrogeology and Paleoclimate
Related topics:
Selected Publications: to be added