Dartmouth Events

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Meeting ID: 962 3557 9087
Passcode: 651327

Subglacial hydrology is the science of water motion beneath glaciers and ice sheets. It is important because pressurized water at the subglacial interface modulates glacier velocity. Subglacial water can lubricate frictional contacts and contribute to the rapid acceleration of glaciers and ice sheets. For the fast-flowing glaciers that could lead to catastrophic sea-level rise in the coming century, nearly all of their speed comes from slip at the base, where ice meets bedrock and unconsolidated sediments. Fast glacier slip also produces water by friction, which allows for a positive feedback. State-of-the- art large-scale ice sheet models that make the projections for sea-level rise often treat the friction at the subglacial interface as fixed in time and do not include subglacial hydrology, leading to considerable uncertainty in these projections. While we have a general understanding of subglacial hydrology, there are numerous open questions, physical processes that are not yet understood, and barriers to implementing subglacial hydrology in large-scale ice sheet models.

Here we will describe the fluid physics of the subglacial system, we will talk about the time evolution of subglacial channels, and discuss the ways that we could possibly intervene in the subglacial system as a method to slow down glaciers. By developing a better understanding of the water pressure variation at the base of glaciers, we can better inform how quickly they slide into the ocean causing sea-level rise.