Constraining the greenland firn aquifer's ability to hydrofracture a crevasse to the bed of the ice sheet

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Title Constraining the greenland firn aquifer's ability to hydrofracture a crevasse to the bed of the ice sheet
Publication Type thesis
School or College College of Social & Behavioral Science
Department Geography
Author Mcnerney, Laura
Date 2016
Description Spanning 1.7 million km2 with glacial ice that exceeds 3,000 m thick in the interior, the Greenland ice sheet plays a large role in Earth's response to climate change. A recently discovered firn aquifer within the ice sheet has the potential to buffer or enhance sea level rise by retaining or outputting its contents into the ocean. This study examines englacial hydrology to determine if the subsurface firn aquifer can discharge water into the ocean via hydraulic fracturing of crevasses. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Operation Ice Bridge Accumulation Radar and Airborne Topographic Mapper data is used to map the top of the aquifer and ice surface elevation profiles by measuring water-table return signals. These profiles are input into a groundwater flow model (SEEP2D), based on Darcy's law, to determine the aquifer's potential water discharge into an existing crevasse at the lower elevation end of the aquifer profile. Next, conservation of mass equations are implem
Type Text
Publisher University of Utah
Subject crevasses; fluid dynamics; Greenland ice sheet; groundwater flow; hydrofracture
Dissertation Name Master of Science
Language eng
Rights Management ©Laura Mcnerney
Format application/pdf
Format Medium application/pdf
Format Extent 26,590 bytes
Identifier etd3/id/4086
ARK ark:/87278/s65176h8
Setname ir_etd
ID 197636
Reference URL https://collections.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s65176h8
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