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<p>Beneath Antarctica’s ice sheets, a little-observed network of liquid water connects vast landscapes and contributes to the motion of the overriding ice. When this subglacial water reaches the ocean cavity beneath ice shelves, it mixes with seawater, amplifying melt and in places forming deep channels in the base of the ice. Here we present observations from a hot-water-drilled borehole documenting subglacial water entering the ocean cavity at the grounding zone of Kamb Ice Stream and the Ross Ice Shelf. Our observations show that melt has removed approximately a third of the ice thickness, yet measurements reveal low rates of subglacial discharge in a turbid plume. Sediment cored from the channel floor shows larger discharge events occur and episodically deposit material from distinct geological domains. We quantify subglacial discharge and link our observations to the catchment upstream. We conclude that discrete discharge events are likely to dominate channel melt and sediment transport and result in the extensive ice-shelf features downstream of Kamb Ice Stream.</p>

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A West Antarctic grounding-zone environment shaped by episodic water flow

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2025年5月12日

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  • Huw J. Horgan,
  • Craig Stewart,
  • Craig Stevens,
  • Gavin Dunbar,
  • Linda Balfoort,
  • Britney E. Schmidt,
  • Peter Washam,
  • Mauro A. Werder,
  • Darcy Mandeno,
  • James Marschalek,
  • Christina Hulbe,
  • Nicholas Holschuh,
  • Richard Levy,
  • Benjamin Hurwitz,
  • Stefan Jendersie,
  • Katelyn Johnson,
  • Justin Lawrence,
  • Regine Morgenstern,
  • Andrew D. Mullen,
  • Enrica Quartini,
  • Wilson Sauthoff,
  • Matthew Siegfried,
  • Holly Still,
  • Sam Thorpe-Loversuch,
  • Tina van de Flierdt,
  • Ryan Venturelli,
  • Arran Whiteford

摘要

Beneath Antarctica’s ice sheets, a little-observed network of liquid water connects vast landscapes and contributes to the motion of the overriding ice. When this subglacial water reaches the ocean cavity beneath ice shelves, it mixes with seawater, amplifying melt and in places forming deep channels in the base of the ice. Here we present observations from a hot-water-drilled borehole documenting subglacial water entering the ocean cavity at the grounding zone of Kamb Ice Stream and the Ross Ice Shelf. Our observations show that melt has removed approximately a third of the ice thickness, yet measurements reveal low rates of subglacial discharge in a turbid plume. Sediment cored from the channel floor shows larger discharge events occur and episodically deposit material from distinct geological domains. We quantify subglacial discharge and link our observations to the catchment upstream. We conclude that discrete discharge events are likely to dominate channel melt and sediment transport and result in the extensive ice-shelf features downstream of Kamb Ice Stream.