Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
NIH NCI

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Published Online February 15, 2007
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1136897

Research Articles

Submitted on October 30, 2006
Accepted on February 8, 2007

An Active Subglacial Water System in West Antarctica Mapped from Space

Helen Amanda Fricker 1*, Ted Scambos 2, Robert Bindschadler 3, Laurie Padman 4

1 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
2 National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80302, USA.
3 NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
4 Earth & Space Research, Corvallis, OR 97333, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Helen Amanda Fricker , E-mail: hafricker{at}ucsd.edu

Satellite laser altimeter elevation profiles from 2003-2006 collected over the lower parts of Whillans and Mercer ice streams, West Antarctica, reveal 14 regions of temporally varying elevation which we interpret as the surface expression of subglacial water movement. Vertical motion and spatial extent of 2 of the largest regions are confirmed by satellite image differencing. A major, previously unknown subglacial lake near the grounding line of Whillans Ice Stream is observed to drain 2.0 km3 of water over ~3 years, while elsewhere a similar volume of water is being stored subglacially. These observations reveal a widespread, dynamic subglacial water system which may exert an important control on ice flow and mass balance.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Large subglacial lake beneath the Laurentide Ice Sheet inferred from sedimentary sequences.
P. Christoffersen, S. Tulaczyk, N. J. Wattrus, J. Peterson, N. Quintana-Krupinski, C. D. Clark, and C. Sjunneskog (2008)
Geology 36, 563-566
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

ADVERTISEMENT
Click Me!

To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)