We developed a multi-frequency, multi-Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) positioning instrument optimized for autonomous applications in the cryosphere. At lower power requirements and a fraction of the cost and weight compared to commercially available options, this instrument simplifies field usage and associated logistics. In this paper, we assess several baseline aspects of performance in a polar environment relative to geodetic receivers commonly used for glaciological applications. Evaluations of precision and relative accuracy of positioning show millimeter to centimeter-level (‘geodetic-grade’) quality of this instrument, making it a competitive alternative for GNSS glaciological and geophysical applications such as monitoring surface elevation change and ice flow. An array of these instruments, tested in the field on the Greenland Ice Sheet, also demonstrated robustness throughout the polar winter and met power and reliability requirements.

We demonstrate that a ~20 km long valley glacier in the St. Elias Mountains, Yukon, can experience both partial and full surges, likely controlled by the presence of a topographic constriction and the formation and drainage of supraglacial lakes. Based on analysis of air photos, satellite images and field observations since the 1940s, we identify a full surge of ‘Little Kluane Glacier’ from 2013 to 2018, and a partial surge of just the upper north arm between 1963 and 1972. Repeat digital elevation models and velocity profiles indicate that the recent surge initiated from the upper north arm in 2013, which developed into a full surge of the main trunk from 2017 to 2018 with peak velocities of ~3600 m a−1 and frontal advance of ~1.7 km from May to September 2018. In 2016, a mass movement from the north arm to the main trunk generated a surface depression in a region immediately downstream of a topographic constriction, which promoted the formation and rapid drainage of supraglacial lakes to the glacier bed, and likely established the conditions to propel the initial partial surge into a full surge. Our results underscore the complex interplay between glacier geometry, surface hydrology and topography required to drive full surges of this glacier.

Warm ice at temperatures close to the pressure melting point is often encountered in deep ice-core drilling. The heat generated by rotary cutting can melt ice chips, which seriously threatens the safety of drilling if the chips refreeze on the drill bit or barrel. Lowering the cutting heat is an effective method to reduce the melting of ice chips. In this study, a general theoretical model was established based on heat transfer theory and the cutting mechanism to calculate and analyze the cutter temperature during the circulation of the drilling fluid. The model was validated by a series of experiments, which demonstrated reasonable agreement between the calculated data and experimental results, with a maximum error of <16%. The factors that contribute to the rise in the cutter temperature during warm ice drilling were investigated. Results suggest that the drilling fluid has excellent cooling performance, and its type and flow rate have minimal impact on the cutter temperature. To mitigate the cutter temperature rise, maximizing the rake angle and thermal conductivity of the cutter, while minimizing the rotation speed of the drill bit, cutting depth, cutter width and friction coefficient between the ice and cutter is recommended.

This study reports and discusses the first case of glaciotectonic landforms in the Shyok valley of the Trans-Himalayan Karakoram Range, Ladakh, where a large decomposed granite megablock (8.2 km2) along with underlying diamicton is thrust over the unconsolidated Quaternary glaciofluvial sediments along a fault gouge zone near the village of Khalsar. The absence of deformation signatures below the fault gouge indicates that the brittle fault acted as a décollement surface under frozen conditions along which the glaciotectonic megablock was translated. The other deformation features include slickensides, ductile shear, thrust propagation fold noses, clastic dykes and rafts of granite and slate within the diamicton sediments. These features indicate a subglacial glaciotectonic nappe origin of the landform. The presence of juxtaposed brittle to ductile deformation fabric, clastic dykes and the superimposition of deformed decomposed granite and diamicton over the undisturbed fluvial sediments indicates a permafrost glacial margin and proglacial environment under sufficient subglacial hydrodynamic conditions for the entrapment and transportation of the glaciotectonic megablock. The deformation fabric consistently shows a southeast orientation, indicating an advancing glacier motion from northwest to southeast. The Siachen Glacier which formerly flowed down the Nubra valley is the most likely cause of the Khalsar glaciotectonic landform.

On the Greenland Ice Sheet, hydrofracture connects the supraglacial and subglacial hydrologic systems, coupling surface runoff dynamics and ice velocity. In recent decades, the growth of low-permeability ice slabs in the wet snow zone has expanded Greenland's runoff zone, but observations suggest that surface-to-bed connections are rare, because meltwater drains through crevasses into the porous firn beneath ice slabs. However, there is little quantitative evidence confirming the absence of surface-to-bed fracture propagation. Here, we use poromechanics to investigate whether water-filled crevasses in ice slabs can propagate vertically through an underlying porous firn layer. Based on numerical simulations, we develop an analytical estimate of the water injection-induced effective stress in the firn given the water level in the crevasse, ice slab thickness, and firn properties. We find that the firn layer substantially reduces the system's vulnerability to hydrofracture because much of the hydrostatic stress is accommodated by a change in pore pressure, rather than being transmitted to the solid skeleton. This result suggests that surface-to-bed hydrofracture will not occur in ice slab regions until all pore space proximal to the initial flaw has been filled with solid ice.

The flow of glacial ice is typically approximated as a nonNewtonian viscous fluid, with the momentum balance described by (an approximation to) the Stokes equations, and the nonlinear rheology described by a flow law. The most commonly used rheological law for glacial ice, Glen's flow law, yields infinite viscosity in the case of zero deformation, which can be the case at the ice surface. This poses a problem when solving the momentum balance numerically. We show that two commonly-used discretisation schemes for the boundary conditions at the ice surface and base, which yield proper numerical convergence when applied to simpler problems, produce poor numerical convergence and large errors, when used to solve the momentum balance with Glen's flow law. We show that a discretisation scheme based on the concept of ghost nodes, which substitutes the boundary conditions directly into the momentum balance equations, yields second-order numerical convergence and errors that can be up to four orders of magnitude smaller. These results are robust across different momentum balance approximations. We show that the improved boundary conditions are particularly useful for solving the 3-D higher-order Blatter-Pattyn Approximation (BPA). In general, this work underlines the importance of thoroughly verifying the numerical solvers used in ice-sheet models, before applying them to future projections of ice-sheet mass loss.

Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) observations and ground-based timelapse photography obtained over the record-high 2019/2020 melt season are combined to characterise the flexure and fracture behaviour of a previously formed doline on George VI Ice Shelf, Antarctica. The GNSS timeseries shows a downward vertical displacement of the doline centre with respect to the doline rim of ~60 cm in response to loading from a central meltwater lake. The GNSS data also show a tens-of-days episode of rapid-onset, exponentially decaying horizontal displacement, where the horizontal distance between the doline rim and its centre increases by ~70 cm. We interpret this event as the initiation and/or widening of a fracture, aided by stress perturbations associated with meltwater loading in the doline basin. Viscous flexure modelling indicates that the meltwater loading generates tensile surface stresses exceeding 75 kPa. This, together with our timelapse photos of circular fractures around the doline, suggests the first such documentation of meltwater-loading-induced ‘ring fracture’ formation on an ice shelf, equivalent to the fracture type proposed as part of the chain-reaction lake drainage process involved in the 2002 breakup of the Larsen B Ice Shelf.

We study the meteorological drivers of melt at two glaciers in Taylor Valley, Antarctica, using 22 years of weather station observations and surface energy fluxes. The glaciers are located only 30 km apart, but have different local climates; Taylor Glacier is generally drier and windier than Commonwealth Glacier, which receives more snowfall due to its proximity to the coast. Commonwealth Glacier shows more inter-annual melt variability, explained by variable albedo due to summer snowfall events. A significant increase in surface melt at Commonwealth Glacier is associated with a decrease in summer minimum albedo. Inter-annual variability in melt at both glaciers is linked to degree-days above freezing during föhn events, occurring more frequently at Taylor Glacier. At Taylor Glacier melt occurs most often with positive air temperatures, but föhn conditions also favour sublimation, which cools the surface and prevents melt for the majority of the positive air temperatures. At Commonwealth Glacier, most of the melt instead occurs with sub-zero air temperatures, driven by strong solar radiative heating. Future melt at Taylor Glacier will likely be more sensitive to changes in föhn events, while Commonwealth Glacier will be impacted more by changes in near coastal weather, where moisture inputs can drive cloud cover, snowfall and change albedo.

Supraglacial lakes on Antarctic ice shelves can have far-reaching implications for ice-sheet stability, highlighting the need to understand their dynamics, controls and role in the ice-sheet mass budget. We combine a detailed satellite-based record of seasonal lake evolution in Dronning Maud Land with a high-resolution simulation from the regional climate model Modèle Atmosphérique Régional to identify drivers of lake variability between 2014 and 2021. Correlations between summer lake extents and climate parameters reveal complex relationships that vary both in space and time. Shortwave radiation contributes positively to the energy budget during summer melt seasons, but summers with enhanced longwave radiation are more prone to surface melting and ponding, which is further enhanced by advected heat from summer precipitation. In contrast, previous winter precipitation has a negative effect on summer lake extents, presumably by increasing albedo and pore space, delaying the accumulation of meltwater. Downslope katabatic or föhn winds promote ponding around the grounding zones of some ice shelves. At a larger scale, we find that summers during periods of negative southern annular mode are associated with increased ponding in Dronning Maud Land. The high variability in seasonal lake extents indicates that these ice shelves are highly sensitive to future warming or intensified extreme events.

Basal channels, which are troughs carved into the undersides of ice shelves by buoyant plumes of water, are modulators of ice-shelf basal melt and structural stability. In this study, we track the evolution of 12 large basal channels beneath ice shelves of the Amundsen and Bellingshausen seas region in West Antarctica using the Landsat record since its start in the 1970s through 2020. We observe examples of channel growth, interactions with ice-shelf features, and systematic changes in sinuosity that give insight into the life cycles of basal channels. We use the last two decades of the record, combined with contemporary ice-flow velocity datasets, to separate channel-path evolution into components related to advection by ice flow and those controlled by other forcings, such as ocean melt or surface accumulation. Our results show that ice-flow-independent lateral channel migration is overwhelmingly to the left when viewed down-flow, suggesting that it is dominated by Coriolis-influenced ocean melt. By applying a model of channel-path evolution dominantly controlled by ice flow and ocean melt, we show that the majority of channels surveyed exhibit non-steady behavior that serves as a novel proxy for increased ocean forcing in West Antarctica starting at least in the early 1970s.

Ruth Glacier is situated in the Central Alaska Range, with the Don Sheldon Amphitheater comprising much of its broad accumulation area, directly adjacent to North America's tallest mountain, Denali. From there it funnels through the ‘Great Gorge,’ flanked by steep valley walls reaching over 1500 m. We combine airborne and ground-based radar measurements of ice thickness with satellite-derived surface velocities to constrain ice flux above and below the gorge, and employ a mass conservation approach to estimate the glacier's thickness within the gorge. We measure ice thickness in the amphitheater to reach 950 m, and estimate centerline thickness in the gorge to range from 610 to 960 m. Our estimates are up to two times greater than those suggested by global models, and allow us to confirm that the Great Gorge rivals Hells Canyon as the deepest gorge in North America. We found that the geometry of the gorge prevents radar measurements of ice thickness there since returns from the subglacial valley walls would precede and potentially occlude nadir bed returns. The same may be true of other unmapped mountain glaciers; however, thickness may be determined using appropriately located flux gates where radar sounding is feasible, combined with mass conservation methods.

The observed retreat of the grounding line of the present-day ice sheets and the simulated grounding-line retreat of ice sheets under changing climate conditions are often interpreted as indications of marine ice-sheet instability (MISI), driven by a positive feedback between the ice discharge and conditions at the grounding line. However, the arguments that support this feedback are valid only for steady-state conditions. Here, we assess how unconfined marine ice sheets may behave if atmospheric conditions and basal conditions evolve with time. We find that the behavior of grounding lines can exhibit a range from unstoppable advance and retreat to irregular oscillation irrespective of the stability of the corresponding steady-state configurations obtained with time-invariant conditions. Our results show that numerical simulations with a parameterization of the ice flux through the grounding line used in large-scale ice-sheet models produce markedly different results from simulations without the parameterization. Our analysis demonstrates that the grounding-line migration can be driven by the temporal variability in the atmospheric and basal conditions and not by MISI, which assumes unchanging conditions. Instead, the grounding-line advance or retreat is determined by interactions between ice flow, basal processes and environmental conditions throughout the length of a marine ice sheet in addition to the circumstances at its grounding line.

Tidewater glaciers frequently advance and retreat in ways uncoupled from climate forcing. This complicates the task of forecasting the evolution of individual glaciers and the overall Greenland ice sheet, much of which is drained by tidewater glaciers. Past observational research has identified a set of processes collectively known as the tidewater glacier cycle (TGC) to describe tidewater glacier evolution in four stages: the advancing stage, the extended stage, the retreating stage and the retreated stage. Once glacier retreat is initiated, the TGC is thought to depend largely on the glacier's calving rate, which is controlled by fjord geometry. However, there has been little modeling or systematic observational work on the topic. Measuring calving rates directly is challenging and thus we developed an averaged von Mises stress state at the glacier terminus as a calving rate proxy that can be estimated from surface velocities, ice thickness, a terminus position and subglacial topography. We then analyzed 44 tidewater glaciers in Greenland and assessed the current state in the TGC for them. Of the 44 glaciers, we find that fjord geometry is causing instability in ten cases, vs stability in seven, with 11 in rapid retreat and 16 have been historically stable.

At high elevations on the Greenland ice sheet meltwater percolates and refreezes in place, and hence does not contribute to mass loss. However, meltwater generation and associated surface runoff is occurring from increasingly higher altitudes, causing changes in firn stratigraphy that have led to the presence of near-surface ice slabs. These ice slabs force meltwater to flow laterally instead of percolating downwards. Here we present a simple, physics-based quasi-2-D model to simulate lateral meltwater runoff and superimposed ice (SI) formation on top of ice slabs. Using an Eulerian Darcy flow scheme, the model calculates how far meltwater can travel within a melt season and when it appears at the snow surface. Results show that lateral flow is a highly efficient runoff mechanism, as lateral outflow exceeds locally generated meltwater in all model gridcells, with total meltwater discharge sometimes reaching more than 30 times the average amount of in situ generated melt. SI formation, an important process in the formation and thickening of the ice slabs, can retain up to 40% of the available meltwater, and generally delays the appearance of visible runoff. Validating the model against field- or remote-sensing data remains challenging, but the results presented here are a first step towards a more comprehensive understanding and description of the hydrological system in the accumulation zone of the southwestern Greenland ice sheet.

Outlet glaciers in Greenland are undergoing retreat and diffusive thinning in response to external forcings, but the rates and magnitudes of these responses differ from glacier to glacier for unclear reasons. We test how changes in ice overburden pressure and basal lubrication affect diffusive thinning rates and their spatial patterns by conducting numerical experiments over various idealized Greenland-like glacier domains. We find that ~10 km frontal retreat over a decade can produce sustained thinning rates as large as 16 m a−1 due to ice overburden pressure changes, at outlet glaciers with high basal drag (>60 kPa) and lateral resistive stress (>70 kPa). Localized basal lubrication perturbations induce upstream thinning and downstream thickening up to 12 m a−1; the duration of the lubrication forcing generally has a greater effect than its intensity on induced thickness changes. Lastly, episodic grounding line retreats over a rough bed produce a stepped time series of thinning broadly consistent with observations of dynamic elevation change on multiple Greenland glaciers. Our findings highlight the critical role of the total grounding zone – not ice front position – through the resistive stress change in relation to total glacier thinning.

Ice sheet models use observations to infer basal shear stress, but the variety of methods and datasets available has resulted in a wide range of estimates. Radar-based metrics such as reflectivity and specularity content have been used to characterize subglacial hydrologic conditions that are linked to spatial variations in basal shear stress. We explore whether radar metrics can be used to inform models about basal shear stress. At Thwaites Glacier, West Antarctica, we sample basal shear stress inversions across a wide range of ice sheet models to see how the basal shear stress distribution changes in regions of varying relative reflectivity and specularity content. Our results reveal three key findings: (1) Regions of high specularity content exhibit lower mean basal shear stresses (2) Wet and bumpy regions, as characterized by high relative reflectivity and low specularity content, exhibit higher mean basal shear stresses (3) Models disagree about what basal shear stress should be at the onset of rapid ice flow and high basal melt where relative reflectivity and specularity content are low.

We use satellite image processing techniques to measure surface elevation and velocity changes on a temperate surging glacier, Sít’ Kusá, throughout its entire 2013–2021 surge cycle. We present detailed records of its dynamic changes during quiescence (2013–2019) and its surge progression (2020–2021). Throughout quiescence, we observe order-of-magnitude speedups that propagate down-glacier seasonally from the glacier's upper northern tributary, above a steep icefall, into the reservoir zone for the surging portion of the glacier. The speedups initiate in fall and gradually accelerate through winter until they peak in late spring, ~1 − 2 months after the onset of melt. Propagation distance of the speedups controls the distribution of mass accumulation in the reservoir zone prior to the surge. Furthermore, the intensity and propagation distance of each year's speedup is correlated with the positive degree day sum from the preceding melt season, suggesting that winter melt storage drives the seasonal speedups. We demonstrate that the speedups are kinematically similar to the 2020–2021 surge, differing mainly in that the surge propagates past the dynamic balance line at the lower limit of the reservoir zone, likely triggered by the exceedance of a tipping point in mass accumulation and basal enthalpy in the reservoir zone.

We conducted a series of experiments that revealed the formation of mm-scale penitente structures in ice illuminated by broadband light under moderate vacuum conditions between 50 and 2000 Pa. The experimental apparatus consists of a 0.3 m diameter cylindrical vacuum chamber with a cooling jacket surrounding the outer radius and bottom surface. Light shines in through an optical window at the top to illuminate most of the ice surface. We observe penitente-like structures at temperatures between −15$^\circ$C and $-2^\circ$C and pressures close to the equilibrium vapor pressure at the ice surface temperature. The formation of these structures is very sensitive to slight changes in background pressure, and the structures tend to vanish with significant deviations away from the equilibrium curve, resulting in a smooth sublimated crater formation instead of penitentes. Application of the physical model by Claudin and others (2015, doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.92.033015) at experimental conditions generally agrees with observations for penitente spacing.

The objective of this research is to model snow's response to dynamic, impact loading. Two constitutive relationships are considered: elastic and Maxwell-viscoelastic. These material models are applied to laboratory experiments consisting of 1000 individual impacts across 22 snow column configurations. The columns are 60 cm tall with a 30 cm by 30 cm cross-section. The snow ranges in density from 135 to 428 kg m−3 and is loaded with both short-duration (~1 ms) and long-duration (~10 ms) impacts. The Maxwell-viscoelastic model more accurately describes snow's response because it contains a mechanism for energy dissipation, which the elastic model does not. Furthermore, the ascertained model parameters show a clear dependence on impact duration; shorter duration impacts resulted in higher wave speeds and greater damping coefficients. The stress wave's magnitude is amplified when it hits a stiffer material because of the positive interference between incident and reflected waves. This phenomenon is observed in the laboratory and modeled with the governing equations.