Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-346
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-346
07 Mar 2024
 | 07 Mar 2024

Ice viscosity governs hydraulic fracture causing rapid drainage of supraglacial lakes

Tim Hageman, Jessica Mejía, Ravindra Duddu, and Emilio Martínez-Pañeda

Abstract. Full thickness crevasses can transport water from the glacier surface to the bedrock where high water pressures can open kilometre-long cracks along the basal interface, which can accelerate glacier flow. We present a first computational modelling study that describes time-dependent fracture propagation in an idealised glacier causing rapid supraglacial lake drainage. A novel two-scale numerical method is developed to capture the elastic and viscoplastic deformations of ice along with crevasse propagation. The fluid-conserving thermo-hydro-mechanical model incorporates turbulent fluid flow and accounts for melting/refreezing in fractures. Applying this model to observational data from a 2008 rapid lake drainage event indicates that viscous deformation exerts a much stronger control on hydrofracture propagation compared to thermal effects. This finding contradicts the conventional assumption that elastic deformation is adequate to describe fracture propagation in glaciers over short timescales (minutes to several hours) and instead demonstrates that viscous deformation must be considered to reproduce observations of lake drainage rate and local ice surface elevation change. As supraglacial lakes continue expanding inland and as Greenland Ice Sheet temperatures become warmer than -8 °C, our results suggest rapid lake drainages are likely to occur without refreezing, which has implications for the rate of sea level rise.

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Journal article(s) based on this preprint

05 Sep 2024
| Highlight paper
Ice viscosity governs hydraulic fracture that causes rapid drainage of supraglacial lakes
Tim Hageman, Jessica Mejía, Ravindra Duddu, and Emilio Martínez-Pañeda
The Cryosphere, 18, 3991–4009, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3991-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3991-2024, 2024
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
Tim Hageman, Jessica Mejía, Ravindra Duddu, and Emilio Martínez-Pañeda

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-346', Anonymous Referee #1, 16 Apr 2024
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-346', Douglas Benn, 02 May 2024

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

Comment types: AC – author | RC – referee | CC – community | EC – editor | CEC – chief editor | : Report abuse
  • RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-346', Anonymous Referee #1, 16 Apr 2024
  • RC2: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-346', Douglas Benn, 02 May 2024

Peer review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision | EF: Editorial file upload
ED: Publish subject to revisions (further review by editor and referees) (08 Jun 2024) by Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson
AR by Emilio Martinez-Paneda on behalf of the Authors (12 Jun 2024)  Author's response   Author's tracked changes   Manuscript 
ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (25 Jun 2024) by Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson
RR by Anonymous Referee #1 (08 Jul 2024)
ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (08 Jul 2024) by Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson
AR by Emilio Martinez-Paneda on behalf of the Authors (08 Jul 2024)  Author's response   Author's tracked changes   Manuscript 
ED: Publish as is (12 Jul 2024) by Nanna Bjørnholt Karlsson
AR by Emilio Martinez-Paneda on behalf of the Authors (18 Jul 2024)  Manuscript 

Journal article(s) based on this preprint

05 Sep 2024
| Highlight paper
Ice viscosity governs hydraulic fracture that causes rapid drainage of supraglacial lakes
Tim Hageman, Jessica Mejía, Ravindra Duddu, and Emilio Martínez-Pañeda
The Cryosphere, 18, 3991–4009, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3991-2024,https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-18-3991-2024, 2024
Short summary Co-editor-in-chief
Tim Hageman, Jessica Mejía, Ravindra Duddu, and Emilio Martínez-Pañeda
Tim Hageman, Jessica Mejía, Ravindra Duddu, and Emilio Martínez-Pañeda

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Latest update: 18 Sep 2024
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The requested preprint has a corresponding peer-reviewed final revised paper. You are encouraged to refer to the final revised version.

The study is one of the first to model fractures in ice sheets - a fascinating and visually stunning aspect of ice sheets. The model shows that crevasses may transport large volumes of water to the bed of a glacier very quickly and captures the opening of the crevasses due to the water inflow. The impact of surface lakes on the Greenland ice sheet dynamics and mass loss is now better described.
Short summary
Due to surface melting, meltwater lakes seasonally form on the surface of glaciers. These lakes drive hydrofractures that rapidly transfer water to the base of ice sheets. This paper presents a computational method to capture the complicated hydrofracturing process. Our work reveals that viscous ice rheology has a great influence on the short-term propagation of fractures, enabling fast lake drainage; whereas, thermal effects (frictional heating, conduction, and freezing) have little influence.