Research finds lake network hidden beneath Arctic glaciers as climate change accelerates
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Researchers have discovered 37 subglacial lakes beneath Canadian Arctic glaciers, 35 of which were previously unknown, revealing a hidden water system that could help scientists better understand how glaciers move and lose ice.
Scientists say knowing where the lakes are, and how they fill and drain, could improve our understanding of how fast glaciers are melting and sea levels are rising. The lakes form a complex network of interconnected waters that flow under the ice, largely hidden until now.
The lakes identified in the new study are very small, ranging from 0.3 to 15 square kilometers, and fill over many years. However, when they release water, it can happen quickly – within a year, sometimes in a few months.
In some cases, rapid drainage of the subglacial lake has caused the ice surface to drop more than 100 meters in three to four months, said study co-author Wesley Van Wychen, an associate professor at the University of Waterloo.
Where the water that fills the lakes comes from is not well understood, but Van Wychen said it could come from a frozen surface. Meltwater can seep into cracks and channels in the ice and collect in lakes below it.
“Will these lakes fill and draw water more often as temperatures begin to warm in the Canadian Arctic? Understanding where the water is under the glaciers is very important in terms of understanding potential changes,” said Van Wychen.
Climate change is accelerating the melting of Arctic ice. If that water flows through the subglacials and into the ocean, scientists say it could affect how quickly sea levels rise.
How could this improve ice science?
Van Wychen, whose research focuses on using remote sensing methods to study glaciers, collaborated with scientists from Taiwan, Japan and the UK on this research.
They rely on data collected by ArcticDEM, an initiative hosted by the University of Minnesota that collects high-resolution images of the Arctic, allowing researchers to study changes in the ice base in unprecedented detail.
Using that data, the researchers measured changes in the elevation of the glacier, where they could see the presence of subglacial lakes and whether they were draining and filling.
Shawn Marshall, a research scientist at Environment and Climate Change Canada who was not involved in this study, said that the discovery of these lakes may still be the beginning. More may be discovered in the coming years, given the hundreds of subglacial lakes already known in Greenland and Antarctica.
There is still a gap in understanding between how much ice melts scientists can measure and how much water actually reaches the ocean and contributes to sea level rise, Marshall said, because some of the water melts and refreezes inside the ice.
Listen to a recording of ice breaking on the Eqi glacier in Greenland. “There’s a lot of power behind this sound,” says Nature of Things co-producer Sarika Cullis-Suzuki. Watch The Berg on CBC Gem.
Further research using new data on subglacial lakes could help connect those dots and improve projections of sea level rise related to climate change.
Van Wychen said a research team at the University of Ottawa is already using the new data to conduct fieldwork and take measurements in one of the lakes, which is currently partially flooded.
“The hope is that in a few years we’ll have really good data put together to understand what’s going on,” Van Wychen said.
