Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-m8qmq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T08:45:56.225Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Energy and water mass balance of Lake Untersee and its perennial ice cover, East Antarctica

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2019

Benoit Faucher Open the ORCID record for Benoit Faucher [Opens in a new window] ,
Denis Lacelle ,
David A. Fisher ,
Dale T. Andersen Open the ORCID record for Dale T. Andersen [Opens in a new window]  and
Christopher P. McKay Open the ORCID record for Christopher P. McKay [Opens in a new window]
Benoit Faucher*
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
Denis Lacelle
Affiliation:
Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
David A. Fisher
Affiliation:
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada
Dale T. Andersen
Affiliation:
Carl Sagan Center, SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA, USA
Christopher P. McKay
Affiliation:
NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA, USA
*
bfauc073@uottawa.ca
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Lake Untersee is one of the largest perennially ice-covered lakes in Dronning Maud Land. We investigated the energy and water mass balance of Lake Untersee to understand its state of equilibrium. The thickness of the ice cover is strongly correlated with sublimation rates; variations in sublimation rates across the ice cover are largely determined by wind-driven turbulent heat fluxes and the number of snow-covered days. Lake extent and water level have remained stable for the past 20 years, indicating that the water mass balance is in equilibrium. The lake is damned by the Anuchin Glacier and mass balance calculation suggest that subaqueous melting of terminus ice contributes 40–45% of the annual water budget; since there is no evidence of streams flowing into the lake, the lake must be connected to a groundwater system that contributes 55–60% in order to maintain the lake budget in balance. The groundwater likely flows at a rate of ~8.8 × 10−2 m3 s−1, a reasonable estimate given the range of subglacial water flux in the region. The fate of its well-sealed ice cover is likely tied to changes in wind regime, whereas changes in water budget are more closely linked to the response of surrounding glaciers to climate change.

Keywords

hydrologyice-covered lakesublimation
Type
Physical Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 31 , Issue 5 , October 2019 , pp. 271 - 285
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambach, W. & Kirchlechner, P. 1986. Nomographs for the determination of the meltwater from ice and snow surfaces by sensible and latent heat flux. Wetter Leben, 38, 181–189.Google Scholar
Andersen, D.T., Sumner, D.Y., Hawes, I., Webster-Brown, J. & McKay, C.P. 2011. Discovery of large conical stromatolites in Lake Untersee, Antarctica. Geobiology, 9, 280–293.Google Scholar
Andersen, D.T., McKay, C.P. & Lagun, V. 2015. Climate conditions at perennially ice-covered Lake Untersee, East Antarctica. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 54, 1393–1412.Google Scholar
Bevington, J., McKay, C.P., Davila, A., Hawes, I., Tanabe, Y. & Andersen, D.T. 2018. The thermal structure of the anoxic trough in Lake Untersee, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 30, 333–344.Google Scholar
Blackman, R.B. & Tukey, J.W. 1958. The measurement of power spectra. New York, NY: Dover Publications, 190 pp.Google Scholar
Bormann, P. & Fritzsche, P., eds. 1995. The Schirmacher Oasis, Queen Maud Land, East Antarctica, and its surroundings. Gotha, Germany: Justus Perthes Verlag, 448 pp.Google Scholar
Bormann, P., Bankwitz, P., Bankwitz, E., Damm, V., Hurtig, E., Kampf, H. et al. 1986. Structure and development of the passive continental margin across the Princess Astrid Coast, East Antarctica. Journal of Geodynamics, 6, 347–373.Google Scholar
Castendyk, D.N., Obryk, M.K., Leidman, S.Z., Gooseff, M. & Hawes, I. 2016. Lake Vanda: a sentinel for climate change in the McMurdo Sound Region of Antarctica. Global Planet Change, 144, 213–227.Google Scholar
Clow, G.D., McKay, C.P., Simmons, G.M. Jr & Wharton, R.A. Jr 1988. Climatological observations and predicted sublimation rates at Lake Hoare, Antarctica. Journal of Climate, 1, 715–728.Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W. 1964. Stable isotopes in precipitation. Tellus, 16, 436–468.Google Scholar
Doran, P.T., McKay, C.P., Clow, G.D., Dana, G.L., Fountain, A.G., Nylen, T., et al. 2002. Valley floor climate observations from the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica, 1986–2000. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 107, 10.1029/2001JD002045.Google Scholar
Doran, P.T., McKay, C.P., Fountain, A.G., Nylen, T., McKnight, D.M., Jaros, C., et al. 2008. Hydrologic response to extreme warm and cold summers in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, East Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 20, 499–509.Google Scholar
Dugan, H.A., Obryk, M.K. & Doran, P.T. 2013. Lake ice ablation rates from permanently ice-covered Antarctic lakes. Journal of Glaciology, 59, 10.3189/2013JoG12J080.Google Scholar
Gooseff, M.N., Barrett, J.E., Adams, B.J., Doran, P.T., Fountain, A.G., Lyons, W.B., et al. 2017. Decadal ecosystem response to an anomalous melt season in a polar desert in Antarctica. Ecology and Evolution, 1, 1334–1338.Google Scholar
Hawes, I., Sumner, D.Y., Andersen, D.T. & Mackey, T.J. 2011. Legacies of recent environmental change in the benthic communities of Lake Joyce, a perennially ice-covered Antarctic lake. Geobiology, 9, 394–410.Google Scholar
Hermichen, D., Kowski, P. & Wand, U. 1985. Lake Untersee – the first isotope study of the largest fresh-water lake in the interior of East Antarctica. Nature, 315, 131–133.Google Scholar
Hoffman, M.J., Fountain, A.G. & Liston, G.E. 2008. Surface energy balance and melt thresholds over 11 years at Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, 10.1029/2008JF001029.Google Scholar
Jouzel, J. & Souchez, R.A. 1982. Melting–refreezing at the glacier sole and the isotopic composition of the ice. Journal of Glaciology, 28, 35–42.Google Scholar
Killawee, J.A., Fairchild, I.J., Tison, J.-L., Janssens, L. & Lorrain, R. 1998. Segregation of solutes and gases in experimental freezing of dilute solutions: implications for natural glacial systems. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 62, 3637–3655.Google Scholar
Kinnard, C., Koerner, R.M., Zdanowicz, C.M., Fisher, D.A., Zheng, J., Sharp, M.J., et al. 2008. Stratigraphic analysis of an ice core from the Prince of Wales Icefield, Ellesmere Island, Arctic Canada, using digital image analysis: high-resolution density, past summer warmth reconstruction, and melt effect on ice core solid conductivity. Journal of Geophysical Research, 113, 10.1029/2008JD011083.Google Scholar
Koo, H., Mojib, N., Hakim, J.A., Hawes, I., Tanabe, Y., Andersen, D.T., et al. 2017. Microbial communities and their predicted metabolic functions in growth laminae of a unique large conical mat from Lake Untersee, East Antarctica. Frontiers in Microbiology, 8, 1347.Google Scholar
Lacelle, D. 2011. On the δ18O, δD and D-excess relation in meteoric precipitation and during equilibrium freezing: theoretical approach and field examples. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 22, 13–25.Google Scholar
Laybourn-Parry, J. & Wadham, J.L. 2014. Antarctic lakes. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Le Brocq, A.M., Ross, N., Griggs, J.A., Bingham, R.G., Corr, H.F.J., Ferraccioli, F., et al. 2013. Evidence from ice shelves for channelized meltwater flow beneath the Antarctic Ice Sheet. Nature Geoscience, 6, 945–948.Google Scholar
Lipp, G., Korber, C., Englich, S., Hartmann, U. & Rau, G. 1987. Investigation of the behavior of dissolved gases during freezing. Cryobiology, 24, 489–503.Google Scholar
McKay, C.P., Clow, G., Wharton, R.A. Jr & Squyres, S.W. 1985. Thickness of ice on perennially frozen lakes. Nature, 313, 561–562.Google Scholar
Medley, B., McConnell, J.R., Neumann, T.A., Reijmer, C.H., Chellman, N., Sigl, M., et al. 2018. Temperature and snowfall in western Queen Maud Land increasing faster than climate model projections. Geophysical Research Letters, 45, 1472–1480.Google Scholar
Mikucki, G., Auken, E., Tulaczyk, S., Virginia, R.A., Schamper, C., Sørensen, K.I., et al. 2015. Deep groundwater and potential subsurface habitats beneath an Antarctic Dry Valley. Nature Communications, 6, 6831.Google Scholar
Obryk, M.K., Doran, P.T. & Priscu, J.C. 2019. Prediction of ice-free conditions for a perennially ice-covered Antarctic lake. JGR Earth Surface, 124, 686–694.Google Scholar
Palmisano, A.C. & Simmons, G.M. Jr 1987. Spectral down-welling irradiance in an Antarctic lake. Polar Biology, 7, 145–151.Google Scholar
Paterson, W.S.B. 2010. The physics of glaciers, 4th ed. Cambridge, MA: Academic Press, 721 pp.Google Scholar
Rignot, E., Mouginot, J. & Scheuchl, B. 2017. MEaSUREs InSAR-Based Antarctica Ice Velocity Map, Version 2. Boulder, CO: NASA National Snow and Ice Data Center Distributed Active Archive Center. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.5067/D7GK8F5J8M8R (accessed 15 February 2019).Google Scholar
Sagan, C. & Pollack, J.B. 1967. Anisotropic nonconservative scattering and the clouds of Venus. Journal of Geophysical Research, 72, 469–477.Google Scholar
Schwab, M.J. 1998. Reconstruction of the late Quaternary climatic and environmental history of the Schirmacher Oasis and the Wohlthat Massif (East Antarctica). Reports on Polar Research, 293, 1–128.Google Scholar
Steel, H.C.B., McKay, C.P. & Andersen, D.T. 2015. Modeling circulation and seasonal fluctuations in perennially ice-covered and ice-walled Lake Untersee, Antarctica. Limnology and Oceanography, 60, 1139–1155.Google Scholar
Wand, U., Schwarz, G., Brüggemann, E. & Bräuer, K. 1997. Evidence for physical and chemical stratification in Lake Untersee (central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica). Antarctic Science, 9, 43–45.Google Scholar
Wand, U., Samarkin, V.A., Nitzsche, H.-M. & Hubberten, H.-W. 2006. Biogeochemistry of methane in the permanently ice-covered Lake Untersee, central Dronning Maud Land, East Antarctica. Limnology and Oceanography, 51, 1180–1194.Google Scholar
Warren, S.G. & Brandt, R.E. 2008. Optical constants of ice from the ultraviolet to the microwave: a revised compilation. Journal of Geophysical Research - Atmospheres, 113(D14), 10.1029/2007JD009744.Google Scholar
Williamson, C.E., Saros, J.E., Vincent, W.F. & Smol, J.P. 2009. Lakes and reservoirs as sentinels, integrators, and regulators of climate change. Limnology and Oceanography, 54, 2273–2282.Google Scholar
Wilson, A.T. & Wellman, H.W. 1962. Lake Vanda: an Antarctic lake: Lake Vanda as a solar energy trap. Nature, 196, 1171–1173.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

Faucher et al. supplementary material

Faucher et al. supplementary material
Download Faucher et al. supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 68.9 KB