Robert L. Hawley

Seasonal changes in snow surface roughness characteristics at Summit, Greenland: implications for snow and firn ventilation

Abstract Air–snow transfer processes impact both ice-core interpretation and exchange affecting atmospheric chemistry. An understanding of seasonal differences in the character of the surface snow will facilitate evaluation of possible preferential seasonal exchange of reactive chemical species. Both diffusive processes and advective (ventilation) processes can serve to alter the physical, chemical and isotopic character of snow and firn. In this paper, we examine measurements of surface roughness over the course of a year at Summit, Greenland, and the implications for snow and firn ventilation. At Summit, during the winter-over experiment, summer and fall sastrugi amplitudes were approximately 5 cm and had smoothly curved profiles. the average amplitudes experienced mild increases in January, but by the end of February through March the amplitude increased to approximately 20 cm, and the profiles exhibited more abrupt geometries. Calculations are performed to show the potential impact of the changing roughness on interstitial ventilation rates in the snow, assuming that the permeability profile does not change in time. Under high winds, ventilation velocities in the near-surface snow can be up to 3 cms–1 in the winter, compared to 1 cms–1 in the summer. the frequency of 12 ms–1 winds in the summer, however, is less than in the winter. Under low-wind conditions, the summer roughness causes ventilation rates that are comparable to diffusion rates. However, in winter even 5 ms–1 wind conditions can cause the interstitial airflow due to ventilation to exceed the diffusion rates.

High-Resolution Ground-Based GPS Measurements Show Intercampaign Bias in ICESat Elevation Data Near Summit, Greenland

The Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) aboard the National Aeronautics and Space Administrations Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) collected data from early 2003 to late 2009 with the specific goal of measuring ice-surface elevation changes. While the precision of GLAS instrumentation has been studied over its intended target (ice), its accuracy has only been robustly estimated using independent (terrestrial nonlaser) methods over salt flats. Here, we perform repeat high-precision Global Positioning System (GPS) surveys under four passes of ICESat track 0412 (campaigns L3I, L3J, L2D, and L2E) to compare directly GLAS elevation data footprints to a coincident GPS ground truth near Summit, Greenland. Analysis and comparison of GLAS data with GPS data show a campaign-dependent elevation bias ranging from -0.112 ±0.030 m (L3J) to 0.121 ± 0.071 m (L2E). Although uncorrected reflectance values and field observations both indicate that forward scattering of the laser signal through the atmosphere accounts for the anomalously negative L3J bias, the biases of all campaigns studied are within the instruments goal accuracy of ±0.15 m. However, our analysis shows a campaign dependence in the bias, which may propagate through estimates of mass balance. The error introduced from intercampaign biases illustrates the importance of long-term independent validation experiments of satellite altimetry data over ice sheets.

Borehole optical stratigraphy and neutron-scattering density measurements at Summit, Greenland

We have made side-by-side measurements in several boreholes at Summit, Greenland, using borehole optical stratigraphy (BOS) and neutron-scattering density logging techniques. The BOS logs show strong positive correlation at shallow depths with neutron-scattering logs taken in the same borehole. This supports the hypothesis that BOS detects changes in density. The positive correlation between returned brightness and density decreases with depth and finally becomes negative. We conclude this inversion of correlation is related to changes in densification regime from grain-boundary sliding to pressure sintering.

Caterpillar‐like ice motion in the ablation zone of the Greenland ice sheet

Current understanding of ice dynamics predicts that increasing availability and variability of meltwater will have an impact on basal motion and therefore on the evolution and future behavior of the Greenland ice sheet. We present measurements of ice deformation, subglacial water pressure, and surface velocity that show periodic and episodic variations on several time scales (seasonal, multiday, and diurnal). These variations, observed with GPS and sensors at different depths throughout the ice column, are not synchronous but show delayed responses of ice deformation with increasing depth and basal water pressure in antiphase with surface velocity. With the help of a Full-Stokes ice flow model, these observations are explained as ice motion in a caterpillar-like fashion. Caused by patches of different basal slipperiness, horizontal stress transfer through the stiff central part of the ice body leads to spatially varying surface velocities and ice deformation patterns. Variation of this basal slipperiness induces characteristic patterns of ice deformation variability that explain the observed behavior. Ice flow in the ablation zone of the Greenland ice sheet is therefore controlled by activation of basal patches by varying slipperiness in the course of a melt season, leading to caterpillar-like ice motion superposed on the classical shear deformation.

Glacimarine sedimentation processes at Kronebreen and Kongsvegen, Svalbard

Tidewater glaciers deposit sediment at their terminus, thereby reducing the relative water depth. Reduced water depth can lead to increased glacier stability through decreased rates of iceberg calving, glacier thinning and submarine melting. Here we investigate sedimentation processes at the termini of Kronebreen and Kongsvegen, Svalbard. We mapped the fjord floor bathymetry in August 2009 and calculate sedimentation rates based on our bathymetry and that from a similar study in 2005. A grounding-line fan is developing near the current position of the subglacial stream. An older, abandoned grounding-line fan that likely formed between �1987 and 2001 is degrading near the middle of the ice front. Our findings indicate that sediment gravity flows reduce the height of the sediment mound forming at the glacier terminus. The future impact of glacimarine sedimentation processes on glacier stability will depend on the net balance between the observed gravity flows and sediment deposition.

Dating firn cores by vertical strain measurements

We have developed a system for measuring a vertical strain-rate profile in the firn on polar ice sheets using a readily available video camera to detect metal bands inserted in an air-filled hole. We used this system in 1995 and 1996 at Taylor Dome, Antarctica. We use density measurements combined with our strain rates to infer vertical velocities. From our velocities we calculate a steady-state depth age scale for the firn at Taylor Dome. The age of a visible ash layer from 79.1 m is 675 ± 25 years; this ash can be correlated with ash found at 97.2 m in a recent ice core at Siple Dome, West Antarctica.

Greenland subglacial drainage evolution regulated by weakly connected regions of the bed

Penetration of surface meltwater to the bed of the Greenland Ice Sheet each summer causes an initial increase in ice speed due to elevated basal water pressure, followed by slowdown in late summer that continues into fall and winter. While this seasonal pattern is commonly explained by an evolution of the subglacial drainage system from an inefficient distributed to efficient channelized configuration, mounting evidence indicates that subglacial channels are unable to explain important aspects of hydrodynamic coupling in late summer and fall. Here we use numerical models of subglacial drainage and ice flow to show that limited, gradual leakage of water and lowering of water pressure in weakly connected regions of the bed can explain the dominant features in late and post melt season ice dynamics. These results suggest that a third weakly connected drainage component should be included in the conceptual model of subglacial hydrology.

Globally synchronous ice core volcanic tracers and abrupt cooling during the last glacial period

[1] We perform a Monte Carlo pattern recognition analysis of the coincidence between three regional volcanic histories from ice coring of Greenland and Antarctica over the period 2 to 45 ka, using SO4 anomalies in Greenland and East Antarctica determined by continuous core chemistry, together with West Antarctic volcanic ash layers determined by remote optical borehole logging and core assays. We find that the Antarctic record of volcanism correlates with Glacial abrupt climate change at a 95% to >99.8% (� 3s) significance level and that volcanic depositions at the three locations match at levels exceeding 3s, likely indicating that many common horizons represent single eruptive events which dispersed material world wide. These globally coincident volcanics were associated with abrupt cooling, often simultaneous with onsets or sudden intensifications of millennial cold periods. The striking agreement between sites implies that the consistency of current timescales obtained by isotopic and glaciological dating methods is better than estimated.

Seasonal differences in surface energy exchange and accumulation at Summit, Greenland

Abstract The 1997–98 Summit (Greenland) winter-over experiment was conducted to investigate the seasonal changes that might affect snow-air transfer processes and snow chemistry for polar ice-core interpretation This paper discusses meteorological measurements that were obtained during the experiment We use the measurements in energy-balance modeling to investigate seasonal differences in the snow-air energy exchange, and to investigate the timing of snow accumulation. We found that the surface energy exchange has distinct seasonal differences. The winter (November-February) has both the coldest average temperatures of the year and the largest temperature variations. The winter also has both the largest peak wind speeds and the longest periods of sustained high winds. Most of the water-vapor transport across the snow-air interface occurs in the summer, indicating that summer may be the primary season for near-surface snow metamorphism. Snow-depth sounder results indicate that snowfall occurs throughout the year at Summit, and thus that the ice-core record may not be affected by large seasonal gaps in the precipitation if accumulation patterns have not changed. The changes in air temperature, wind speed and radiation cause clear seasonal differences in the surface energy balance and snow-surface characteristics that are likely to cause seasonal changes in air-snow transfer processes and snow chemistry as well.

Rapid techniques for determining annual accumulation applied at Summit, Greenland

We have determined accumulation histories by identifying annual-layer horizons in records obtained by three independent methods: (1) glaciochemical analysis on a core, (2) density profiling in the borehole from which the core was taken, using the neutron-probe (NP) technique, and (3) borehole optical stratigraphy (BOS), again in the same borehole. We also used three different techniques for determining density to convert annual-layer thickness to accumulation: (1) gravimetric measurements on core samples, (2) measurement of density using NP and (3) a simple empirical model based on regional climatology. The result is nine different accumulation time series, three of which are completely independent. The chemical-analysis- and NP-derived accumulation time series are correlated, and the ∼70year means are in agreement. The BOS-derived accumulation ∼70 year mean is slightly lower, probably due to a combination of the empirical density models underestimate of the density profile and the misidentification of sub-annual events in the shallow part of the borehole as annual horizons.