Thirteen years of subglacial lake activity in Antarctica from multi-mission satellite altimetry
The ability to detect the surface expression of moving water beneath the Antarctic ice sheet by satellite has revealed a dynamic basal environment, with implications for regional ice dynamics, grounding-line stability, and fluxes of freshwater and nutrients to the Southern Ocean. Knowledge of subgla...
| Main Authors: | , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2018-07-01
|
| Series: | Annals of Glaciology |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0260305517000362/type/journal_article |
| _version_ | 1811157279127371776 |
|---|---|
| author | Matthew R. Siegfried Helen A. Fricker |
| author_facet | Matthew R. Siegfried Helen A. Fricker |
| author_sort | Matthew R. Siegfried |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The ability to detect the surface expression of moving water beneath the Antarctic ice sheet by satellite has revealed a dynamic basal environment, with implications for regional ice dynamics, grounding-line stability, and fluxes of freshwater and nutrients to the Southern Ocean. Knowledge of subglacial activity on timescales important for near-term prediction of ice-sheet fluctuations (decadal to century) is limited by the short observational record of NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimetry mission used to generate the last continent-wide survey (2003–08). Here, we use synthetic aperture radar-interferometric-mode data from ESA's CryoSat-2 radar altimetry mission (2010–present), which samples 45 of the ICESat-derived subglacial lakes, to extend their time series to the end of 2016. The extended time series show that there have been surface-height changes at 20 of the 45 lakes since 2008, indicating that some of these features are persistent and potentially cyclic, while other features show negligible changes, suggesting these may be transient or nonhydrological features. Continued monitoring of active lakes for both height and velocity changes, as well as developing methods for identifying additional lakes, is critical to quantifying the full distribution of active subglacial lakes in Antarctica. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T05:04:36Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3b7461eaa8b24006a974dcdfe1b78c02 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 0260-3055 1727-5644 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T05:04:36Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Annals of Glaciology |
| spelling | doaj.art-3b7461eaa8b24006a974dcdfe1b78c022023-03-09T12:27:32ZengCambridge University PressAnnals of Glaciology0260-30551727-56442018-07-0159425510.1017/aog.2017.36Thirteen years of subglacial lake activity in Antarctica from multi-mission satellite altimetryMatthew R. Siegfried0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0868-4633Helen A. Fricker1Department of Geophysics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA E-mail:Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USAThe ability to detect the surface expression of moving water beneath the Antarctic ice sheet by satellite has revealed a dynamic basal environment, with implications for regional ice dynamics, grounding-line stability, and fluxes of freshwater and nutrients to the Southern Ocean. Knowledge of subglacial activity on timescales important for near-term prediction of ice-sheet fluctuations (decadal to century) is limited by the short observational record of NASA's Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) laser altimetry mission used to generate the last continent-wide survey (2003–08). Here, we use synthetic aperture radar-interferometric-mode data from ESA's CryoSat-2 radar altimetry mission (2010–present), which samples 45 of the ICESat-derived subglacial lakes, to extend their time series to the end of 2016. The extended time series show that there have been surface-height changes at 20 of the 45 lakes since 2008, indicating that some of these features are persistent and potentially cyclic, while other features show negligible changes, suggesting these may be transient or nonhydrological features. Continued monitoring of active lakes for both height and velocity changes, as well as developing methods for identifying additional lakes, is critical to quantifying the full distribution of active subglacial lakes in Antarctica.https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0260305517000362/type/journal_articlelaser altimetryremote sensingsubglacial lakessubglacial processes |
| spellingShingle | Matthew R. Siegfried Helen A. Fricker Thirteen years of subglacial lake activity in Antarctica from multi-mission satellite altimetry Annals of Glaciology laser altimetry remote sensing subglacial lakes subglacial processes |
| title | Thirteen years of subglacial lake activity in Antarctica from multi-mission satellite altimetry |
| title_full | Thirteen years of subglacial lake activity in Antarctica from multi-mission satellite altimetry |
| title_fullStr | Thirteen years of subglacial lake activity in Antarctica from multi-mission satellite altimetry |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thirteen years of subglacial lake activity in Antarctica from multi-mission satellite altimetry |
| title_short | Thirteen years of subglacial lake activity in Antarctica from multi-mission satellite altimetry |
| title_sort | thirteen years of subglacial lake activity in antarctica from multi mission satellite altimetry |
| topic | laser altimetry remote sensing subglacial lakes subglacial processes |
| url | https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0260305517000362/type/journal_article |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT matthewrsiegfried thirteenyearsofsubglaciallakeactivityinantarcticafrommultimissionsatellitealtimetry AT helenafricker thirteenyearsofsubglaciallakeactivityinantarcticafrommultimissionsatellitealtimetry |