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Interfacial water in polar glaciers and glacier sliding at −17°C
Author(s) -
Cuffey K. M.,
Conway H.,
Hallet B.,
Gades A. M.,
Raymond C. F.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/1999gl900096
Subject(s) - glacier , polar , geology , rock glacier , glaciology , glacier ice accumulation , geomorphology , glacier mass balance , glacier morphology , mineralogy , geochemistry , ice stream , petrology , oceanography , sea ice , paleontology , cryosphere , stratigraphy , tectonics , physics , astronomy
We have observed sliding at a cold (−17°C) ice‐rock interface beneath Meserve Glacier, Antarctica, and the segregation of ice into clean lenses amidst the dirty basal layers of this glacier. We interpret these as manifestations of thin water films at ice‐rock interfaces. We use Shreve's theory for sub‐freezing sliding to estimate the nominal film thickness to be at least tens of nanometers. Such water films should exist around rocks in most polar ices, and likely have high solute concentrations due to solute rejection during regelation and due to exchange with veins and grain boundaries where impurities reside.