Winter drainage of surface lakes on the Greenland Ice Sheet from Sentinel-1 SAR imagery

1 April 2021

The surface of the Greenland Ice Sheet contains thousands of surface lakes. These lakes can deliver water through cracks to the ice sheet base and influence the speed of ice flow. Here the authors look at instances of lakes draining in the middle of winter using the Sentinel-1 radar satellites. Winter-draining lakes can help understand the mechanisms for lake drainages throughout the year and can point to winter movement of water that will impact our understanding of ice sheet hydrology.

The press release by the University of Cambridge can be found at: https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/lakes-on-greenland-ice-sheet-can-drain-huge-amounts-of-water-even-in-winter

Contact: Corinne L. Benedek (clb90@cam.ac.uk)