A Consistent Framework for Coupling Basal Friction With Subglacial Hydrology on Hard-Bedded Glaciers

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Abstract

Below hard-bedded glaciers, both basal friction and distributed subglacial drainage are thought to be controlled by a network of cavities. Previous coupled hydro-mechanical models, however, describe cavity-driven friction and hydraulic transmissivity independently, resulting in a physically inconsistent cavity evolution between the two components of the models. Here, we overcome this issue by describing the hydro-mechanical system using a common cavity-evolution description, that governs both transient friction and hydraulic transmissivity. We show that our coupling approach is superior to previous formulations in explaining a unique observation record of glacier sliding speed from the French Alps. We find that, at multi-day to multi-decadal timescales, sliding speed can be expressed as a direct function of basal shear stress and water discharge, without accounting for water pressure, which simply adjusts to maintain the cavitation ratio needed to accommodate the water supply.

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Gilbert, A., Gimbert, F., Thøgersen, K., Schuler, T. V., & Kääb, A. (2022). A Consistent Framework for Coupling Basal Friction With Subglacial Hydrology on Hard-Bedded Glaciers. Geophysical Research Letters, 49(13). https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL097507

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