Abstract
We present radio-echo sounding (RES), global positioning system (GPS) and active source seismic data from the central portion of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream ~150 km downstream from the onset of streaming flow, which likely initiates due to locally high geothermal flux (~1 W/m2) near the ice sheet summit. Our geophysical data show that ice stream extent is limited via a feedback between basal hydrology and ice sheet surface elevation change. Active-source seismic data reveal water-saturated till beneath the central trunk of streaming flow. Subglacial till becomes increasingly dewatered and consolidated toward the shear margins. We hypothesize that ice accelerates and thins as it flows into NEGIS, producing marginal troughs in surface topography. These troughs create steep gradients in the subglacial hydropotential that generate parallel slippery and sticky bands beneath the margins, which limit ice entrainment across the margin and thus restrict further widening. Complex steady-state folds in radar reflectors within the shear margins form due to the combined influence of geothermal flux, varying basal shear stress, flow convergence, and bands of variable basal friction. Our strain rate and flux analysis of radar internal layers indicates no major changes in flow dynamics during the past ~10,000 years. However, strain rate modeling suggests that steady-state basal shear heating produces plentiful meltwater beneath the central trunk of streaming flow in addition to that supplied by geothermal flux. This meltwater supports the basal lubrication necessary to maintain streaming flow and may allow remobilization of dewatered marginal till. While the main trunk of streaming flow is remarkably stable, complex processes occurring within the shear margins merit closer scrutiny. The feedback between surface elevation change and basal water routing could mobilize currently unconsolidated sediments in the margins and result in shifts in ice dynamics.
2038
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