Groundwater discharge to the western Antarctic coastal ocean

Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) measurements have been limited along the Antarctic coast, although groundwater discharge is becoming recognized as an important process in the Antarctic. Quantifying this meltwater pathway is important for hydrologic budgets, ice mass balances and solute deliver...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar research 2019-04, Vol.38, p.1-11
Main Authors: Null, Kimberly A., Reide Corbett, D., Crenshaw, Jared, Peterson, Richard N., Peterson, Leigha E., Lyons, W. Berry
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bedrock
Budgets
Climate change
Coastal environments
Coastal waters
Coastal zone
Discharge
Environmental impact
Fluxes
Freshwater
Glaciers
Groundwater
Groundwater discharge
Hydrology
Impact prediction
Inland water environment
Isotopes
Mass
Mass balance
Meltwater
Polar environments
Radium
Radium isotopes
Salinity
Seawater
Solutes
subglacial meltwater
Surface water
Tidewater
western Antarctic Peninsula
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Summary:Submarine groundwater discharge (SGD) measurements have been limited along the Antarctic coast, although groundwater discharge is becoming recognized as an important process in the Antarctic. Quantifying this meltwater pathway is important for hydrologic budgets, ice mass balances and solute delivery to the coastal ocean. Here, we estimate the combined discharge of subglacial and submarine groundwater to the Antarctic coastal ocean. SGD, including subglacial and submarine groundwater, is quantified along the WAP at the Marr Glacier terminus using the activities of naturally occurring radium isotopes (223Ra, 224Ra). Estimated SGD fluxes from a 224Ra mass balance ranged from (0.41 ± 0.14)×104 and (8.2 ± 2.3)×104m3 d−1. Using a salinity mass balance, we estimate SGD contributes up to 32% of the total freshwater to the coastal environment near Palmer Station. This study suggests that a large portion of the melting glacier may be infiltrating into the bedrock and being discharged to coastal waters along the WAP. Meltwater infiltrating as groundwater at glacier termini is an important solute delivery mechanism to the nearshore environment that can influence biological productivity. More importantly, quantifying this meltwater pathway may be worthy of attention when predicting future impacts of climate change on retreat of tidewater glaciers.
ISSN:0800-0395
1751-8369
DOI:10.33265/polar.v38.3497