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 time-evolution of glacier basal motion remains poorly constrained, despite its importance in understanding the response of glaciers to climate warming. Athabasca Glacier provides an ideal site for observing changes in basal motion over long timescales. Studies from the 1960s provide an in situ baseline dataset constraining ice deformation and basal motion. We use two complementary numerical flow models to investigate changes along a well-studied transverse profile and throughout a larger study area. A cross-sectional flow model allows us to calculate transverse englacial velocity fields to simulate modern and historical conditions. We subsequently use a 3-D numerical ice flow model, Icepack, to estimate changes in basal friction by inverting known surface velocities. Our results reproduce observed velocities well using standard values for flow parameters. They show that basal motion declined significantly (30–40%) and this constitutes the majority (50–80%) of the observed decrease in surface velocities. At the same time, basal resistive stress has remained nearly constant and now balances a much larger fraction of the driving stress. The decline in basal motion over multiple decades of climate warming could serve as a stabilizing feedback mechanism, slowing ice transport to lower elevations, and therefore moderating future mass loss rates.

Rift propagation, rather than basal melt, drives the destabilization and disintegration of the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf. Since 2016, rifts have episodically advanced throughout the central ice-shelf area, with rapid propagation events occurring during austral spring. The ice shelf's speed has increased by ~70% during this period, transitioning from a rate of 1.65 m d−1 in 2019 to 2.85 m d−1 by early 2023 in the central area. The increase in longitudinal strain rates near the grounding zone has led to full-thickness rifts and melange-filled gaps since 2020. A recent sea-ice break out has accelerated retreat at the western calving front, effectively separating the ice shelf from what remained of its northwestern pinning point. Meanwhile, a distributed set of phase-sensitive radar measurements indicates that the basal melting rate is generally small, likely due to a widespread robust ocean stratification beneath the ice–ocean interface that suppresses basal melt despite the presence of substantial oceanic heat at depth. These observations in combination with damage modeling show that, while ocean forcing is responsible for triggering the current West Antarctic ice retreat, the Thwaites Eastern Ice Shelf is experiencing dynamic feedbacks over decadal timescales that are driving ice-shelf disintegration, now independent of basal melt.

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.

Tidewater glaciers have been observed to experience instantaneous, stepwise increases in velocity during iceberg-calving events due to a loss of resistive stresses. These changes in stress can potentially impact tidewater glacier stability by promoting additional calving and affecting the viscous delivery of ice to the terminus. Using flow models and perturbation theory, we demonstrate that calving events and subsequent terminus readvance produce quasi-periodic, sawtooth oscillations in stress that originate at the terminus and propagate upstream. The stress perturbations travel at speeds much greater than the glacier velocities and, for laterally resisted glaciers, rapidly decay within a few ice thickness of the terminus. Consequently, because terminus fluctuations due to individual calving events tend to be much higher frequency than climate variations, individual calving events have little direct impact on the viscous delivery of ice to the terminus. This suggests that the primary mechanism by which calving events can trigger instability is by causing fluctuations in stress that weaken the ice and lead to additional calving and sustained terminus retreat. Our results further demonstrate a stronger response to calving events in simulations that include the full stress tensor, highlighting the importance of accounting for higher order stresses when developing calving parameterizations.

The recently-advancing Taku Glacier is excavating subglacial sediments at high rates over multi-decadal timescales. However, sediment redistribution over shorter timescales remains unquantified. We use a variety of methods to study subglacial and proglacial sediment redistribution on decadal, seasonal, and daily timescales to gain insight into sub- and proglacial landscape formation. Both excavation and deposition were observed from 2003 to 2015 (2.8 ± 0.9 m a−1 to +2.9 ± 0.9 m a−1). The observed patterns imply that a subglacial conduit has occupied the same site over the past decade. Outwash fans on the subaerial end moraine experience fluvial sediment reworking almost year-round, with net sediment gain in winter and net sediment loss in summer, and an overall mass gain between 2005 and 2015. We estimate that tens of meters of sediment still underlie the glacier terminus, sediments which can be remobilized during future activity. However, imminent retreat from the proglacial moraine will limit its sediment supply, leaving the moraine vulnerable to erosion by bordering rivers. Retreat into an over-deepened basin will leave the glacier vulnerable to increased frontal ablation and accelerating retreat.

Glacial environments exhibit temporally variable microseismicity. To investigate how microseismicity influences event detection, we implement two noise-adaptive digital power detectors to process seismic data from Taylor Glacier, Antarctica. We add scaled icequake waveforms to the original data stream, run detectors on the hybrid data stream to estimate reliable detection magnitudes and compare analytical magnitudes predicted from an ice crack source model. We find that detection capability is influenced by environmental microseismicity for seismic events with source size comparable to thermal penetration depths. When event counts and minimum detectable event sizes change in the same direction (i.e. increase in event counts and minimum detectable event size), we interpret measured seismicity changes as ‘true’ seismicity changes rather than as changes in detection. Generally, one detector (two degree of freedom (2dof)) outperforms the other: it identifies more events, a more prominent summertime diurnal signal and maintains a higher detection capability. We conclude that real physical processes are responsible for the summertime diurnal inter-detector difference. One detector (3dof) identifies this process as environmental microseismicity; the other detector (2dof) identifies it as elevated waveform activity. Our analysis provides an example for minimizing detection biases and estimating source sizes when interpreting temporal seismicity patterns to better infer glacial seismogenic processes.

We present a workflow to track icebergs in proglacial fjords using oblique time-lapse photos and the Lucas-Kanade optical flow algorithm. We employ the workflow at LeConte Bay, Alaska, where we ran five time-lapse cameras between April 2016 and September 2017, capturing more than 400 000 photos at frame rates of 0.5–4.0 min−1. Hourly to daily average velocity fields in map coordinates illustrate dynamic currents in the bay, with dominant downfjord velocities (exceeding 0.5 m s−1 intermittently) and several eddies. Comparisons with simultaneous Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) measurements yield best agreement for the uppermost ADCP levels (~ 12 m and above), in line with prevalent small icebergs that trace near-surface currents. Tracking results from multiple cameras compare favorably, although cameras with lower frame rates (0.5 min−1) tend to underestimate high flow speeds. Tests to determine requisite temporal and spatial image resolution confirm the importance of high image frame rates, while spatial resolution is of secondary importance. Application of our procedure to other fjords will be successful if iceberg concentrations are high enough and if the camera frame rates are sufficiently rapid (at least 1 min−1 for conditions similar to LeConte Bay).

Jakobshavn Isbræ, a tidewater glacier that produces some of Greenland's largest icebergs and highest speeds, reached record-high flow rates in 2012 (Joughin and others, 2014). We use terrestrial radar interferometric observations from August 2012 to characterize the events that led to record-high flow. We find that the highest speeds occurred in response to a small calving retreat, while several larger calving events produced negligible changes in glacier speed. This non-linear response to calving events suggests the terminus was close to flotation and therefore highly sensitive to terminus position. Our observations indicate that a glacier's response to calving is a consequence of two competing feedbacks: (1) an increase in strain rates that leads to dynamic thinning and faster flow, thereby promoting destabilization, and (2) an increase in flow rates that advects thick ice toward the terminus and promotes restabilization. The competition between these feedbacks depends on temporal and spatial variations in the glacier's proximity to flotation. This study highlights the importance of dynamic thinning and advective processes on tidewater glacier stability, and further suggests the latter may be limiting the current retreat due to the thick ice that occupies Jakobshavn Isbræ’s retrograde bed.

Subglacial tills play an important role in glacier dynamics but are difficult to characterize in situ. Amplitude Variation with Angle (AVA) analysis of seismic reflection data can distinguish between stiff tills and deformable tills. However, AVA analysis in mountain glacier environments can be problematic: reflections can be obscured by Rayleigh wave energy scattered from crevasses, and complex basal topography can impede the location of reflection points in 2-D acquisitions. We use a forward model to produce challenging synthetic seismic records in order to test the efficacy of AVA in crevassed and geometrically complex environments. We find that we can distinguish subglacial till types in moderately crevassed environments, where ‘moderate’ depends on crevasse spacing and orientation. The forward model serves as a planning tool, as it can predict AVA success or failure based on characteristics of the study glacier. Applying lessons from the forward model, we perform AVA on a seismic dataset collected from Taku Glacier in Southeast Alaska in March 2016. Taku Glacier is a valley glacier thought to overlay thick sediment deposits. A near-offset polarity reversal confirms that the tills are deformable.

The basal interface of glaciers is generally not directly observable. Geophysical inverse methods are therefore used to infer basal parameters from surface observations. Such methods can also provide information about potential inadequacies of the forward model. Ideally an inverse problem can be regularized so that the differences between modeled and observed surface velocities reflect observational errors. However, deficiencies in the forward model usually result in additional errors. Here we use the spatial pattern of velocity residuals to discuss the main error sources for basal stress inversions for Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland. Synthetic tests with prescribed patterns of basal yield stress with varying length scales are then used to investigate different weighting functions for the data-model misfit and for the ability of the inversion to resolve details in basal yield stress. We also test real-data inversions for their sensitivities to prior estimate, forward model parameters, data gaps, and temperature fields. We find that velocity errors are not sufficient to explain the residual patterns of real-data inversions. Conversely, ice-geometry errors and especially simulated errors in model simplifications are capable of reproducing similar error patterns and magnitudes. We suggest that residual patterns can provide useful guidance for forward model improvements.

Fast-flowing ice streams and outlet glaciers provide the major avenues for ice flow from past and present ice sheets. These ice streams move faster than the surrounding ice sheet by a factor of 100 or more. Several mechanisms for fast ice-stream flow have been identified, leading to a spectrum of different ice-stream types. In this paper we discuss the two end members of this spectrum, which we term the “ice-stream” type (represented by the Siple Coast ice streams in West Antarctica) and the “isbræ” type (represented by Jakobshavn Isbræ in Greenland). The typical ice stream is wide, relatively shallow (∼1000 m), has a low surface slope and driving stress (∼10 kPa), and ice-stream location is not strongly controlled by bed topography. Fast flow is possible because the ice stream has a slippery bed, possibly underlain by weak, actively deforming sediments. The marginal shear zones are narrow and support most of the driving stress, and the ice deforms almost exclusively by transverse shear. The margins seem to be inherently unstable; they migrate, and there are plausible mechanisms for such ice streams to shut down. The isbræ type of ice stream is characterized by very high driving stresses, often exceeding 200 kPa. They flow through deep bedrock channels that are significantly deeper than the surrounding ice, and have steep surface slopes. Ice deformation includes vertical as well as lateral shear, and basal motion need not contribute significantly to the overall motion. The marginal shear zone stend to be wide relative to the isbræ width, and the location of isbræ and its margins is strongly controlled by bedrock topography. They are stable features, and can only shut down if the high ice flux cannot be supplied from the adjacent ice sheet. Isbræs occur in Greenland and East Antarctica, and possibly parts of Pine Island and Thwaites Glaciers, West Antarctica. In this paper, we compare and contrast the two types of ice streams, addressing questions such as ice deformation, basal motion, subglacial hydrology, seasonality of ice flow, and stability of the ice streams.

We use time-lapse photography, MODIS satellite imagery, ocean wave measurements and regional broadband seismic data to demonstrate that icebergs that calve from Jakobshavn Isbræ, Greenland, can generate ocean waves that are detectable over 150 km from their source. The waves, which are recorded seismically, have distinct spectral peaks, are not dispersive and persist for several hours. On the basis of these observations, we suggest that calving events at Jakobshavn Isbræ can stimulate seiches, or basin eigenmodes, in both Ilulissat Icefjord and Disko Bay. Our observations furthermore indicate that coastal, land-based seismometers located near calving termini (e.g. as part of the new Greenland Ice Sheet Monitoring Network (GLISN)) can aid investigations into the largely unexplored, oceanographic consequences of iceberg calving.

We describe a derivation of surface velocities and associated errors for Black Rapids Glacier, Alaska, U.S.A., using single-orbital-path synthetic aperture radar interferometry (InSAR). The technique described is adapted to small temperate glaciers with complex flow patterns. We also describe a motion anomaly, apparent in the InSAR phase signal, that persisted on Black Rapids Glacier for at least 78 days during winter 1991/92 and recurred in 1996. This anomaly is interpreted using a basal hydrology hypothesis in which a hydraulic head is maintained at the glacier bed at close to the overburden pressure. This permits a cumulative influx of 1.6 × 106 m3 of water under the glacier, a sort of shallow subglacial lake, that migrates downstream at an average rate of 30 m d− 1 over 78 days. The motion anomaly is speculated to be an unsuccessful bid for surge initiation.

Glaciological and related observations from 1961 to 2005 at the summit of Mt Wrangell (62.00° N, 144.02°W; 4317m a.s.l.), a massive glacier-covered shield volcano in south-central Alaska, show marked changes that appear to have been initiated by the Great Alaska Earthquake (Mw = 9.2) of 27 March 1964. The 4×6 km diameter, ice-filled Summit Caldera with several post-caldera craters on its rim, comprises the summit region where annual snow accumulation is 1–2m of water equivalent and the mean annual temperature, measured 10 m below the snow surface, is –20°C. Precision surveying, aerial photogrammetry and measurements of temperature and snow accumulation were used to measure the loss of glacier ice equivalent to about 0.03 km3 of water from the North Crater in a decade. Glacier calorimetry was used to calculate the associated heat flux, which varied within the range 20–140Wm–2; total heat flow was in the range 20–100MW. Seismicity data from the crater’s rim show two distinct responses to large earthquakes at time scales from minutes to months. Chemistry of water and gas from fumaroles indicates a shallow magma heat source and seismicity data are consistent with this interpretation.

Geophysical inverse methods are used to calculate the basal motion of a glacier. They are applied to a one-dimensional forward model that can be linearized to make the analysis simpler. The inverse method finds a solution that fits the data within a given error. It selects for smooth solutions to discriminate against unrealistic oscillations. The method is applied to a simple model glacier of uniform shape and thickness to test how well a given basal motion field can be reconstructed. It shows, as expected, that optimizing for smoothness lowers maxima and increases minima of the solution. A step change in basal velocity is drawn out in the inversion over a distance that is given by the half-width of a resolving function. This is typically about three times the ice thickness, but is also affected by the sampling rate of the data. The method is then applied to two glaciers where suitable data are available: Brown Glacier on Heard Island, southern Indian Ocean, and McCall Glacier in the Brooks Range, Alaska, U.S.A. The McCall results agree well with earlier estimates of basal motion.

The puzzling fact that Jakobshavn Isbræ, West Greenland, is flowing very fast but without any significant seasonal velocity changes, despite big amounts of surface-derived meltwater entering the ice stream (Echelmeyer and Harrison, 1990), has been explained by a combination of different types of measurements. It is now well established from seismic measurements and radio-echo sounding that Jakobshavn Isbræ flows through a deeply eroded subglacial trench that, even 50 km inland of the grounding line, extends as far as 1500 m below sea level (Clarke and Echelmeyer, 1996; Legarsky and Huang, 2006). Temperature measurements in boreholes down to 65% of the 2500 m thick ice stream at site B, some 50 km upstream of the calving front (Fig. 1b; Iken and others, 1993), were used to infer the presence of a substantial layer of temperate ice, the thickness of which was estimated to be at least 300 m by modeling and matching internal layering structures (Funk and others, 1994; Lüthi and others, 2002). The presence of a thick layer of temperate ice under very high driving stress allows for high ice-deformation rates, which contribute substantially to the observed fast flow velocities. Basal motion, while certainly important, seems to be barely influenced by the seasonal meltwater input (Echelmeyer and Harrison, 1990).

We propose a general framework for iceberg-calving models that can be applied to any calving margin. The framework is based on mass continuity, the assumption that calving rate and terminus velocity are not independent and the simple idea that terminus thickness following a calving event is larger than terminus thickness at the event onset. The theoretical, near steady-state analysis used to support and analyze the framework indicates that calving rate is governed, to first order, by ice thickness, thickness gradient, strain rate, mass-balance rate and backwards melting of the terminus; the analysis furthermore provides a physical explanation for a previously derived empirical relationship for ice-shelf calving (Alley and others, 2008). In the calving framework the pre- and post-calving terminus thicknesses are given by two unknown but related functions. The functions can vary independently of changes in glacier flow and geometry, and can therefore account for variations in calving behavior due to external forcings and/or self-sustaining calving processes (positive feedbacks). Although the calving framework does not constitute a complete calving model, any thickness-based calving criterion can easily be incorporated into the framework. The framework should be viewed as a guide for future attempts to parameterize calving.

We recorded the burial times of temperature sensors mounted on a specially constructed tower to determine snow accumulation during individual storms in the summit caldera of Mount Wrangell, Alaska, USA, (62° N, 144° W; 4100 m a.s.l.) during the accumulation year June 2005 to June 2006. The experiment showed most of the accumulation occurred in episodic large storms, and half of the total accumulation was delivered in late summer. The timing of individual events correlated well with storms recorded upwind, at Cordova, the closest Pacific coastal weather station (200 km south-southeast), although the magnitude of events showed only poor correlation. Hence, snow accumulation at Mount Wrangell appears to be a reflection of synoptic-scale regional weather systems. The accumulation at Mount Wrangell’s summit (>2.5 m w.e.) exceeded the precipitation at Cordova. Although the direct relationship between accumulation of individual storms at the summit of Mount Wrangell and precipitation events at Cordova may be unique in the region, it is useful for interpreting ice cores obtained on Mount Wrangell. This is especially the case here because the high rate of accumulation allows high time resolution within the core.