Spatial heterogeneity in subglacial drainage driven by till erosion.

ABSTRACT: The distribution and drainage of meltwater at the base of glaciers sensitively affects fast ice flow. Previous studies suggest that thin meltwater films between the overlying ice and a hard-rock bed channelize into efficient drainage elements by melting the overlying ice. However, these studies do not account for the presence of soft deformable sediment observed underneath many West Antarctic ice streams, and the inextricable coupling that sediment exhibits with meltwater drainage. Our work presents an alternate mechanism for initiating drainage elements such as canals where meltwater films grow by eroding the sediment beneath. We conduct a linearized stability analysis on a meltwater film flowing over an erodible bed. We solve the Orr-Sommerfeld equation for the film flow, and we compute

SUBMITTER: Kasmalkar I 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6735472 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature