Preprints
Filtering by Subject: Glaciology
Surging glaciers in Svalbard: Observing their distribution, characteristics and evolution
Published: 2025-08-21
Subjects: Geomorphology, Glaciology
Glacier surges are episodes of significantly increased ice flow due to ice-dynamical feedbacks, and are often repeated in a quasi-periodical manner. Ice mass is redistributed during a surge, which leads to surface lowering at high elevation as ice is transferred down-glacier and thickening nearer the terminus. In this paper, we review different approaches for monitoring and detecting glacier [...]
An Ice Core Snapshot of Past Atmospheric Chemistry in Mt. Everest’s 'Death Zone'
Published: 2025-08-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Sciences, Geochemistry, Glaciology, Other Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
We present a unique atmospheric chemistry record from the highest ice core ever recovered (8020 m, South Col Glacier (SCG), Mt. Everest), that captures ~400 years of deposition during the latter half of the first millennium BCE. Due to recent glacier thinning, the upper ~2000 years of accumulation have been lost, however, this is the only ice core record ever recovered from the “Death Zone [...]
QuakeMigrate: a Python Package for Automatic Earthquake Detection and Location Using Waveform Migration and Stacking
Published: 2025-07-25
Subjects: Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology, Volcanology
QuakeMigrate is a modular, open-source Python package providing a framework to efficiently and automatically detect and locate microseismicity. From raw seismic waveforms and a modest number of physically meaningful inputs and tuneable parameters, it produces catalogues of earthquakes including hypocentres, their associated uncertainties, phase arrival times, and local magnitude estimates, all of [...]
Ice dynamic and hydrological response to ice-dammed lake drainages at Isunnguata Sermia, West Greenland
Published: 2025-07-17
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Ice-marginal lakes are increasingly common around Greenland and are important for modulating glacier runoff and dynamics. This study investigates the evolution of a ~3 km2 and up to ~100 m deep ice-dammed lake at Isunnguata Sermia, West Greenland. Satellite observations between 1987 and 2024, and field observations of a 2023 drainage using passive seismics, GNSS and time-lapse imagery reveal that [...]
Glacier algae phenology on the Qaanaaq Ice Cap (Northwest Greenland)
Published: 2025-07-07
Subjects: Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Glacier algae are relevant factors in the darkening phenomenon of glaciers, especially at the margins of the ice sheets. This study focuses on glacier algae variation during summer seasons in the 2016-2023 period at Qaanaaq Ice Cap, NW Greenland. Based on ice samples and field spectroscopy measurements, an empirical model is proposed to estimate glacier algae abundance from a reflectance ratio [...]
On the demise of Whistler, Horstman and Blackcomb Glaciers, southwest British Columbia, Canada: historical use, recent change and future prospects within a mountain resort
Published: 2025-07-02
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Atmospheric warming is causing glaciers worldwide to retreat and disappear, with repercussions for nearby communities. Effects of glacier retreat have been especially consequential for mountain resorts such as Whistler Blackcomb, Canada, where almost 60 years of summer glacier use has been terminated due to the ongoing demise of Whistler, Horstman and Blackcomb Glaciers. Over the past five [...]
The formation and evolution of the supraglacial weathering crust on the Greenland Ice Sheet
Published: 2025-07-02
Subjects: Glaciology
The formation and evolution of the supraglacial weathering crust on the Greenland Ice Sheet
A Markov chain Monte Carlo approach for geostatistically simulating mass-conserving subglacial topography
Published: 2025-06-26
Subjects: Glaciology, Other Statistics and Probability
Subglacial topography is critically important for simulating ice-sheet evolution and projecting sea-level contributions. However, the subglacial topography of the Antarctic ice-sheet is sparsely measured. Obtaining a gridded topography map used in ice-sheet simulations requires interpolating the measurements or inverting topography from observations of ice velocity and surface elevation. [...]
Mapping textures of polar ice cores using 3D laboratory X-ray microscopy
Published: 2025-06-20
Subjects: Climate, Earth Sciences, Glaciology
Deep ice cores from polar ice sheets enable reconstructions of Earth’s past climate. Ice-core records are therefore crucial for projecting future climate change, however, our ability to interpret them relies on our understanding of polycrystalline-ice microstructures and mechanics. In turn, these microstructures enable modeling of ice flow and large-scale effects of ice-sheet evolution. Since [...]
WITHDRAWN: Constraining the onset of future irreversible retreat of Thwaites Glacier, Antarctica
Published: 2025-06-15
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology
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Disappearing glaciers of the Oregon Cascades, USA
Published: 2025-05-29
Subjects: Glaciology
The Oregon Cascades had 35 named glaciers on seven volcanos in the 1980s, with 34 of those glaciers remaining by 2000. Here we document the glaciers that fall into the Global Glacier Casualty List categories based on five years of field observations of these 34 glaciers. Five glaciers have disappeared, four have almost disappeared, and eight are critically endangered. Thus, half of the Oregon [...]
Turbulent Snow Transport and Accumulation: New Reduced-Order Models and Diagnostics
Published: 2025-05-14
Subjects: Atmospheric Sciences, Dynamical Systems, Fluid Dynamics, Glaciology, Hydrology, Meteorology, Non-linear Dynamics
Understanding and modeling snow particle dynamics in the atmosphere remains a significant challenge for atmospheric scientists, hydrologists, and glaciologists. Temporally and spatially varying rates of snow transport, deposition, and erosion are driven by atmospheric turbulence and further complicated by inertial particle dynamics. Even with perfectly resolved wind fields, accurately predicting [...]
Tidal flexure reveals effective elasticity in grounding zones on the Ross Ice Shelf
Published: 2025-04-11
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The grounding zones of Antarctic ice shelves are among the continent’s most dynamic regions, where floating ice shelves buttress grounded upstream ice and tidal forcing drives cyclic flexure at the ice-ocean-bed interface. We use ICESat-2 altimetry and airborne ice-penetrating radar to constrain the effective Young’s modulus E* of ice in the flexure zone at three sites on the Ross Ice Shelf. By [...]
Deep source regions for back-arc volcanism in the Patagonian slab window imaged by finite frequency P and SH body wave tomography
Published: 2025-04-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geochemistry, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
The subduction of the Chile Ridge beneath South America beginning 12-16 Myr ago opened a gap in the subducting slab beneath southern Patagonia, which migrated northward and is located today at 46oS. Geodynamic processes associated with the slab window are poorly understood. Here we apply finite-frequency P and SH body wave tomography to seismic data from several temporary arrays as well as [...]
Assessing Future Ice Shelf Collapse Vulnerability in the ISMIP6 Ensemble
Published: 2025-04-08
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Glaciology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Understanding the possibility of future ice shelf collapses similar to the Larsen B is critical for improving sea-level-rise projections due to the restraint on upstream flow that ice shelves provide. Prior research has provided a criterion for assessing the vulnerability of ice shelf to hydrofracture. We apply these calculations to the model ensemble results from the Ice Sheet Modeling [...]