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Abstract. Ice-sheet models used to predict sea-level rise often neglect subglacial hydrology. However, theory and observations suggest that ice flow and subglacial water flow are bidirectionally coupled: ice geometry affects hydraulic potential, hydraulic potential modulates basal shear stress via the basal water pressure, and ice flow advects the subglacial drainage system. This coupling could impact rates of ice mass change but remains poorly understood. We develop a coupled ice–subglacial-hydrology model to investigate the effects of coupling on the long-term evolution of marine-terminating ice sheets. We combine a one-dimensional channelized subglacial hydrology model with a depth-integrated marine-ice-sheet model, incorporating each component of the coupling listed above, yielding a set of differential equations that we solve using a finite-difference, implicit time-stepping approach. We conduct a series of experiments with this model, using either bidirectional or unidirectional coupling. These experiments generate profiles of channel cross-sectional area, channel flow rate, channel effective pressure, ice thickness, and ice velocity. We discuss how the profiles shape one another, resulting in the effective pressure reaching a local maximum in a region near the grounding line. We also describe the impact of bidirectional coupling on the transient retreat of ice sheets through a comparison of our coupled model with ice-flow models that have imposed static basal conditions. We find that including coupled subglacial hydrology leads to grounding-line retreat that is virtually absent when static basal conditions are assumed. This work highlights the role time-evolving subglacial drainage may have in ice-sheet change and informs efforts to include it in ice-sheet models. This work also supplies a physical basis for a commonly used parameterization which assumes that the subglacial water pressure is set by the bed's depth beneath the sea surface.
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This content will become publicly available on December 1, 2025
Predicting the Onset of Subglacial Drainage Channels
The sliding speed of glaciers depends strongly on the water pressure at the ice‐sediment interface, which is controlled by the efficiency of water transport through a subglacial hydrological system. The least efficient component of the system consists of “distributed” flow everywhere beneath the ice, whereas the “channelized” drainage through large, thermally eroded conduits is more efficient. To understand the conditions under which the subglacial network channelizes, we perform a linear stability analysis of distributed flow, considering competition between thermal erosion and viscous ice collapse. The calculated growth rate gives a stability criterion, describing the minimum subglacial meltwater flux needed for channels to form, but also indicates the tendency to generate infinitely narrow channels in existing models. We demonstrate the need to include lateral heat diffusion when modeling melt incision to resolve channel widths, which allows continuum models to recover Röthlisberger channel behavior. We also show that low numerical resolution can suppress channel formation and lead to overestimates of water pressure. Our derived channelization criterion can be used to predict the character of subglacial hydrological systems without recourse to numerical simulations, with practical implications for understanding changes in ice velocity due to changes in surface melt runoff.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2012958
- PAR ID:
- 10642210
- Publisher / Repository:
- American Geophysical Union
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface
- Volume:
- 129
- Issue:
- 12
- ISSN:
- 2169-9003
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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