Seismologically Observed Spatiotemporal Drainage Activity at Moulins

Hydrology is important for glacier dynamics, but it is difficult to monitor the subsurface drainage systems of glaciers by direct observations. Since meltwater drainage generates seismic signals, passive seismic analysis has the potential to be used to monitor these processes. To study continuous seismic radiation from the drainage, we analyze geophone data from six stations deployed at the Kaskawulsh Glacier in Yukon, Canada, during the summer of 2014 using ambient noise cross-correlation techniques. We locate the noise sources by backprojecting the amplitude of the cross correlation to the glacier surface. Most of the ambient noise sequences are found in two clusters, with each cluster located in the vicinity of a moulin identified at the surface. Stronger seismic radiation is observed during the day, consistent with expected variability in melt rates. We demonstrate that the sparse seismic network array with 2 km station separation has the ability to detect moulins within the array with a precision of 50 m. We confirm that seismic activity is correlated with air temperature, and thus, melt, on a diurnal timescale, and precipitation correlates with the activity at longer timescales. Our results highlight the potential of passive seismic observations for monitoring water flow into subglacial channels through moulins with an affordable number of seismic stations, but quantification of water flow rates still remains a challenge. The cross-correlation backprojection technique described here can also potentially be applied to any localized source of ambient noise such as ocean noise, tectonic tremor, and volcanic tremor

Supraglacial drainage efficiency of the Greenland Ice Sheet estimated from remote sensing and climate models

Supraglacial stream/river catchments drain large volumes of surface meltwater off the southwestern Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) surface. Previous studies note a strong seasonal evolution of their drainage density (Dd), a classic measure of drainage efficiency defined as open channel length per unit catchment area, but a direct correlation between Dd and surface meltwater runoff (R) has not been established. We use 27 high-resolution (∼0.5 m) satellite images to map seasonally evolving Dd for four GrIS supraglacial catchments, with elevations ranging from 1100 m to 1700 m. We find a positive linear correlation (r2 = 0.70, p<0.01) between Dd and simulations of runoff production from two climate models (MAR v3.11 and MERRA-2). Applying this R-Dd empirical relationship to climate model output enables parameterization of spatial and temporal changes in supraglacial drainage efficiency continuously throughout the melt season, although temporal and spatial skewness of Dd observations likely affects the application of this R-Dd relationship on crevasse fields and snow/firn surfaces. Incorporating this information into a simple surface routing model finds that high runoff leads to earlier, larger diurnal peaks of runoff transport on the ice surface, owing to increased Dd. This effect progressively declines from low (∼1100 m) to high (∼1700 m) elevation, causing a roughly order-of-magnitude reduction in diurnal runoff variability at the highest elevations relative to standard climate model output. Combining intermittent satellite Dd mapping with climate model output thus promises to improve characterization of supraglacial drainage efficiency to the benefit of supraglacial meltwater routing and subglacial hydrology models

Characteristics of Supraglacial Channels and Drainage Networks on Antarctic Ice Shelves

Supraglacial channels that flow on ice shelves can store and transport large volumes of meltwater to various locations (e.g., moulins, lakes, crevasses) during the melt season, so they play an important role in glacial hydrology and ice shelf stability. However, the current understanding of supraglacial channels is limited, especially the underlying processes and the controls on their development and variability. This study uses multiple remotely sensed data including satellite imagery and Digital Elevation Models (DEMs) to measure supraglacial channels in Antarctica. Five contrasting ice shelves around the margin of the Antarctic Ice Sheet are chosen as the study sites – Bach, Nansen, Nivlisen, Riiser-Larsen and Roi Baudouin ice shelves. Supraglacial lakes and channels are mapped by automatic delineation method during the melt season in 2020 and 2022, and key fluvial metrics are calculated, e.g., number, length, width, depth, sinuosity, bifurcation ratio, orientation, slopes and drainage density. Extensive supraglacial lakes and channels were observed on all five Antarctic ice shelves during the peak of the melt season and most were interconnected to form a total of 119 channel networks at different scales. The results demonstrate that: (ⅰ) supraglacial channel networks often occurred in areas with low elevations and near grounding lines, (ⅱ) supraglacial channel networks on different ice shelves exhibited different drainage patterns and hydromorphic characteristics, (ⅲ) the surface topography and structural glaciology of ice shelves affected the distribution of the supraglacial channel network. Future work could focus on long-term observation of supraglacial channels and exploring the applicability of terrestrial river-related research methods (e.g., hydrological modelling) to supraglacial channels

Flow Routing for Delineating Supraglacial Meltwater Channel Networks

Growing interest in supraglacial channels, coupled with the increasing availability of high-resolution remotely sensed imagery of glacier surfaces, motivates the development and testing of new approaches to delineating surface meltwater channels. We utilized a high-resolution (2 m) digital elevation model of parts of the western margin of the Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS) and retention of visually identified sinks (i.e., moulins) to investigate the ability of a standard D8 flow routing algorithm to delineate supraglacial channels. We compared these delineated channels to manually digitized channels and to channels extracted from multispectral imagery. We delineated GrIS supraglacial channel networks in six high-elevation (above 1000 m) and one low-elevation (below 1000 m) catchments during and shortly after peak melt (July and August 2012), and investigated the effect of contributing area threshold on flow routing performance. We found that, although flow routing is sensitive to data quality and moulin identification, it can identify 75% to 99% of channels observed with multispectral analysis, as well as low-order, high-density channels (up to 15.7 km/km² with a 0.01 km² contributing area threshold) in greater detail than multispectral methods. Additionally, we found that flow routing can delineate supraglacial channel networks on rough ice surfaces with widespread crevassing. Our results suggest that supraglacial channel density is sufficiently high during peak melt that low contributing area thresholds can be employed with little risk of overestimating the channel network extent.Arts, Faculty ofNon UBCGeography, Department ofReviewedFacult