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Funder: Aberystwyth University Capital Equipment Fund, Optical televiewer borehole logging within a crevassed region of fast‐moving Store Glacier, Greenland, revealed the presence of 35 high‐angle planes that cut across the background primary stratification. These planes were composed of a bubble‐free layer of refrozen ice, most of which hosted thin laminae of bubble‐rich “last frozen” ice, consistent with the planes being the traces of former open crevasses. Several such last‐frozen laminae were observed in four traces, suggesting multiple episodes of crevasse reactivation. The frequency of crevasse traces generally decreased with depth, with the deepest detectable trace being 265 m below the surface. This is consistent with the extent of the warmer‐than‐modeled englacial ice layer in the area, which extends from the surface to a depth of ∼400 m. Crevasse trace orientation was strongly clustered around a dip of 63° and a strike that was offset by 71° from orthogonal to the local direction of principal extending strain. The traces’ antecedent crevasses were therefore interpreted to have originated upglacier, probably ∼8 km distant involving mixed‐mode (I and III) formation. We conclude that deep crevassing is pervasive across Store Glacier, and therefore also at all dynamically similar outlet glaciers. Once healed, their traces represent planes of weakness subject to reactivation during subsequent advection through the glacier. Given their depth, it is highly likely that such traces—particularly those formed downglacier—survive surface ablation to reach the glacier terminus, where they may represent foci for fracture and iceberg calving.

Temporal variations in ice sheet flow directly impact the internal structure within ice sheets through englacial deformation. Large-scale changes in the vertical stratigraphy within ice sheets have been previously conducted on centennial to millennial timescales; however, intra-annual changes in the morphology of internal layers have yet to be explored. Over a period of two years, we use autonomous phase-sensitive radio-echo sounding (ApRES) to track the daily displacement of internal layers on Store Glacier, West Greenland to millimeter accuracy. At a site located ~30 km from the calving terminus, where the ice is ~600m thick and flows at ~700m/yr, we measure distinct seasonal variations in vertical velocities and vertical strain rates over a two-year period. Prior to the melt season (March–June), we observe increasingly non-linear englacial deformation with negative vertical strain rates (i.e. strain thinning) in the upper half of the ice column of ~0.03 a-1, whereas the ice below thickens under vertical strain reaching up to 0.16 a-1. Early in the melt season (June–July), vertical thinning gradually ceases as the glacier increasingly thickens. During late summer to midwinter (August–February), vertical thickening occurs linearly throughout the entire ice column, with strain rates averaging 0.016 a-1. We show that these complex variations are unrelated to topographic setting and localized basal slip, and hypothesize that this seasonality is driven by far-field perturbations in the glacier’s force balance, in this case generated by variations in basal hydrology near the glacier’s terminus and propagated tens of kilometers upstream through longitudinal coupling.

Surface melt ponds now form frequently on ice shelves across the northern sector of the Antarctic Peninsula in response to regional warming and local föhn winds. A potentially important, but hitherto unknown, consequence of this surface melting and ponding is the formation of high-density near-surface ice from the refreezing of that water. We report the discovery and physical character of a massive subsurface ice layer located in an area of intense melting and intermittent ponding on Larsen C Ice Shelf, Antarctica. We combine borehole optical televiewer logging and ground-based radar measurements with remote sensing and firn modelling to investigate the formation and spatial extent of this layer, found to be tens of kilometres across and tens of metres deep. The presence of this ice layer has the effect of raising local ice shelf density by about 190 kgm-3 and temperature by 5 - 10 degrees C above values found in areas unaffected by ponding and hitherto used in models of ice-shelf fracture and flow.

Optical televiewer luminosity logs are compared with densities measured gravimetrically on 520 snow, firn and ice samples from two locations of similar annual temperature (~-14 °C) and contrasting accumulation rates (0.23 and 0.43 m w.e. per year) on the Roi Baudouin Ice Shelf, Antarctica. At the scale of ≥10-1 m, an inverse exponential relationship (R2 = 0.96) is recorded between density and luminosity, indicating (i) that OPTV luminosity provides an effective proxy for density at such ice shelves, and (ii) that densities may be reconstructed from boreholes drilled elsewhere by hot water without the need for core material. Our analysis also suggests that this relationship may hold for newly-formed ice as well as for snow and firn. At the scale of ≤10-1 m, both luminosity and density show similar patterns, but precise correlation is confounded by detailed differences between the two records.

Measurements of ice temperature provide crucial constraints on ice viscosity and the thermodynamic processes occurring within a glacier. However, such measurements are presently limited by a small number of relatively coarse-spatial-resolution borehole records, especially for ice sheets. Here, we advance our understanding of glacier thermodynamics with an exceptionally high-vertical-resolution (~0.65 m), distributed-fiber-optic temperature-sensing profile from a 1043-m borehole drilled to the base of Sermeq Kujalleq (Store Glacier), Greenland. We report substantial but isolated strain heating within interglacial-phase ice at 208 to 242 m depth together with strongly heterogeneous ice deformation in glacial-phase ice below 889 m. We also observe a high-strain interface between glacial- and interglacial-phase ice and a 73-m-thick temperate basal layer, interpreted as locally formed and important for the glacier's fast motion. These findings demonstrate notable spatial heterogeneity, both vertically and at the catchment scale, in the conditions facilitating the fast motion of marine-terminating glaciers in Greenland.

Supraglacial lake drainage events influence Greenland Ice Sheet dynamics on hourly to interannual timescales. However, direct observations are rare, and, to date, no in situ studies exist from fast-flowing sectors of the ice sheet. Here, we present observations of a rapid lake drainage event at Store Glacier, west Greenland, in 2018. The drainage event transported 4.8 × 106 m3 of meltwater to the glacier bed in ∼5 h, reducing the lake to a third of its original volume. During drainage, the local ice surface rose by 0.55 m, and surface velocity increased from 2.0 m⋅d-1 to 5.3 m⋅d-1 Dynamic responses were greatest ∼4 km downstream from the lake, which we interpret as an area of transient water storage constrained by basal topography. Drainage initiated, without any precursory trigger, when the lake expanded and reactivated a preexisting fracture that had been responsible for a drainage event 1 y earlier. Since formation, this fracture had advected ∼500 m from the lake's deepest point, meaning the lake did not fully drain. Partial drainage events have previously been assumed to occur slowly via lake overtopping, with a comparatively small dynamic influence. In contrast, our findings show that partial drainage events can be caused by hydrofracture, producing new hydrological connections that continue to concentrate the supply of surface meltwater to the bed of the ice sheet throughout the melt season. Our findings therefore indicate that the quantity and resultant dynamic influence of rapid lake drainages are likely being underestimated.

Outlet glaciers of the Greenland Ice Sheet transport ice from the interior to the ocean and contribute directly to sea level rise because because discharge and ablation often exceed the accumulation. To develop a better understanding of these fast flowing glaciers, we investigate the basal conditions of Store Glacier, a large outlet glacier flowing into Uummannaq Fjord in West Greenland. We use two crossing seismic profiles acquired near the centreline, 30 km upstream of the calving front, to interpret the physical nature of the ice and bed. We identify one notably englacial and two notably subglacial seismic reflections on both profiles. The englacial reflection represents a change in crystal orientation fabric, interpreted to be the Holocene–Wisconsin transition. From Amplitude Versus Angle (AVA) analysis we infer that the deepest 80 m of ice of the parallel-flow profile below this reflection is anisotropic with an enhancement of simple shear of 2. The ice is underlain by 45 m of unconsolidated sediments, below which there is a strong reflection caused by the transition to consolidated sediments. In the across-flow profile subglacial properties vary over small scale and the polarity of the ice–bed reflection switches from positive to negative. We interpret these as patches of different basal slipperiness associated with variable amounts of water. Our results illustrate variability in basal properties, and hence ice-bed coupling, at a spatial scale of 100 m, highlighting the need for direct observations of the bed to improve the basal boundary conditions in ice-dynamic models.

Measurements of ice temperature provide crucial constraints on ice viscosity and the thermodynamic processes occurring within a glacier. However, such measurements are presently limited by a small number of relatively coarse-spatial-resolution borehole records, especially for ice sheets. Here, we advance our understanding of glacier thermodynamics with an exceptionally high-vertical-resolution (~0.65 m), distributed-fiber-optic temperature-sensing profile from a 1043-m borehole drilled to the base of Sermeq Kujalleq (Store Glacier), Greenland. We report substantial but isolated strain heating within interglacial-phase ice at 208 to 242 m depth together with strongly heterogeneous ice deformation in glacial-phase ice below 889 m. We also observe a high-strain interface between glacial- and interglacial-phase ice and a 73-m-thick temperate basal layer, interpreted as locally formed and important for the glacier's fast motion. These findings demonstrate notable spatial heterogeneity, both vertically and at the catchment scale, in the conditions facilitating the fast motion of marine-terminating glaciers in Greenland.

Subglacial hydrologic systems regulate ice sheet flow, causing acceleration or deceleration depending on hydraulic efficiency and the rate at which surface meltwater is delivered to the bed. Because these systems are rarely observed, ice sheet basal drainage represents a poorly integrated and uncertain component of models used to predict sea-level changes. Here, we report radar-derived basal melt rates and unexpectedly warm subglacial conditions beneath a large Greenlandic outlet glacier. The basal melt rates averaged 14 mm d−1 over 4 months, peaking at 57 mm d−1 when basal wa-ter temperature reached +0.88 C in a nearby borehole. We attribute both observations to the conversion of potential energy of surface water as heat in the basal drainage system, which peaked during a period of rainfall and intense surface melting. Our findings reveal limitations in the theory of channel formation and we show that viscous dissipation far surpasses other basal heat sources, even in a distributed, high-pressure system.

High-resolution observations from a 1043-m-deep borehole show highly variable ice properties and heterogeneous deformation., Measurements of ice temperature provide crucial constraints on ice viscosity and the thermodynamic processes occurring within a glacier. However, such measurements are presently limited by a small number of relatively coarse-spatial-resolution borehole records, especially for ice sheets. Here, we advance our understanding of glacier thermodynamics with an exceptionally high-vertical-resolution (~0.65 m), distributed-fiber-optic temperature-sensing profile from a 1043-m borehole drilled to the base of Sermeq Kujalleq (Store Glacier), Greenland. We report substantial but isolated strain heating within interglacial-phase ice at 208 to 242 m depth together with strongly heterogeneous ice deformation in glacial-phase ice below 889 m. We also observe a high-strain interface between glacial- and interglacial-phase ice and a 73-m-thick temperate basal layer, interpreted as locally formed and important for the glacier’s fast motion. These findings demonstrate notable spatial heterogeneity, both vertically and at the catchment scale, in the conditions facilitating the fast motion of marine-terminating glaciers in Greenland.