Ice cover of the Amur River and its impact on channel processes

Special features of the Amur R. ice regime in its middle and lower reaches are discussed along with the role of river ice in bank erosion, transport of coarse fragmental material, bottom washout, and water flow redistribution among branches. Numerous and various consequences of the ice drift impact on the banks and floodplain, as well as the intensity of erosion processes in the Amur River channel during winter have been revealed. The water flow redistribution among the Amur River branches near Khabarovsk noticeably changed the ice regime, which was rehabilitated as a result of implementation of a complex of special measures.     

Simulation and parameterization of superimposed ice formation

In cold Arctic snowpacks, meltwater retention is a significant factor controlling the timing and magnitude of runoff. Meltwater percolates vertically through the snowpack until it reaches an impermeable horizon, whereupon a saturated zone is established. If the underlying media is below the freezing point, accretive ice formation takes place. This process has previously been crudely parameterized or modelled numerically. Such ice is called either superimposed ice on glaciers or basal ice on bare land. Using theory derived from sea‐ice formation, an analytical solution to basal ice growth is proposed. Results are compared against growth rates derived from numerical modelling. In addition, model results are compared to field observations of ice temperatures. The analytical solution is further extended to account for the temperature gradient inside the underlying media and the variable thermal properties of the underlying media. In the analysis, observations and references have predominantly relied on knowledge from glaciers. However, the process of accretive ice growth is equally important in seasonal snow packs with a cold snow‐ground interface and on Arctic sea ice where the ice‐snow interface is well below freezing point. The simplification of this accretive ice growth problem makes the solution attractive for incorporation in large‐scale cryospheric models. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

神奇的球状冰(冰球、冰蛋)

大量球状冰集聚排列是自然界中较为罕见的现象,一般发生在浅滩、湖岸和河岸处.因球状冰形态特征的特殊性,常被称之为冰球、冰蛋.球状冰的形成与发展受气象、水动力和水滨地形条件等多因素共同控制,且具有一定的时空限制,必须在短时间内多因素协同干预才可能引发冰球集聚.正是凭借"制造"条件的苛刻性导致了冰球集聚现象的罕见,也造成了全球各地冰球出现的位置、形态和数量之间存在差异.已有来自于德国、俄罗斯、芬兰和加拿大等多个国家关于冰球现象的报道,但发生频率极少,约20～ 30年一次.近年来在吉林省的查干湖和四海湖发现了冰蛋现象,但关于球状冰从形成到大量集聚之间的定量研究依然缺少实测数据分析支撑.毫无疑问,来自大自然的神奇现象为科学探索研究提供了更多的动力和乐趣.     

Mechanisms of ice accumulation in a river bend-an experimental study

In this study,under conditions of different flow and ice discharge,extensive experiments have been carried out in a 180°-bend flume and an S-shaped bend channel.The phenomenon and mechanisms of ice accumulation in the bend channel have been studied.Ice accumulation along the convex bank was normally thicker than that along the concave bank.The maximum thickness of ice accumulation in the downstream bend channel occurred close to the convex bank.The difference between the maximum thickness and the minimum thickness of ice accumulation was significant.The entire ice accumulation became unstable if flow Froude number was large.When the flow Froude Number is high,the entire ice accumulation becomes unstable.For Froude Number between 0.035 and 0.060,the bottom surface of ice accumulation became waved in form.Small changes in Froude number and ice discharge rate can change a channel from a state of no ice accumulation to uniform accumulation over the channel bend.The higher the ice discharge,the more uniform the ice accumulation.The experimental results have been compared with field observations of ice jams at the Hequ Reach of the Yellow River.     

Velocity profiles and incipient motion of frazil particles under ice cover

A series of experiments for the incipient motion of frazil particles under ice cover have been carried out in laboratory under different flow and boundary conditions.Measurements on flow velocities across the measuring cross-section at different water depths have been conducted.Based on these experiments under both ice-covered and open flow conditions,the impacts of solid boundary(such as ice cover and flume sidewall) on the distribution of flow velocity profiles have been discussed.The criteria for the inc...     

The emplacement of an obsidian dyke through thin ice: Hrafntinnuhryggur, Krafla Iceland

An eruption along a 2.5 km-long rhyolitic dyke at Krafla volcano, northern Iceland during the last glacial period formed a ridge of obsidian (Hrafntinnuhryggur). The ridge rises up to 80 m above the surrounding land and is composed of a number of small-volume lava bodies with minor fragmental material. The total volume is < 0.05 km³. The lava bodies are flow- or dome-like in morphology and many display columnar-jointed sides typical of magma–ice interaction, quench-fragmented lower margins indicative of interaction with meltwater and pumiceous upper surfaces typical of subaerial obsidian flows. The fragmental material compromises poorly-sorted perlitic quench hyaloclastites and poorly-exposed pumiceous tuffs. Lava bodies on the western ridge flanks are columnar jointed and extensively hydrothermally altered. At the southern end of the ridge the feeder dyke is exposed at an elevation  95 m beneath the ridge crest and flares upwards into a lava body.Using the distribution of lithofacies, we interpret that the eruption melted through ice only 35–55 m thick, which is likely to have been dominated by firn. Hrafntinnuhryggur is therefore the first documented example of a rhyolitic fissure eruption beneath thin ice/firn. The eruption breached the ice, leading to subaerial but ice/firn-contact lava effusion, and only minor explosive activity occurred. The ridge appears to have been well-drained during the eruption, aided by the high permeability of the thin ice/firn, which appears not to have greatly affected the eruption mechanisms. We estimate that the eruption lasted between 2 and 20 months and would not have generated a significant jökulhlaup (< 70 m³ s^− 1).     

Debris from the basal ice of the Agassiz ice cap,Ellesmere Island,arctic Canada

This article describes the characteristics of debris obtained from the basal ice in a borehole in the Agassiz ice cap, Ellesmere Island, Northwest Territories by the Canadian Polar Continental Shelf Project in 1979. The debris appears to have been incorporated by basal freezing at a time when the base of the glacier upstream was near the pressure melting point and some 19°C warmer than at the present site. Such an occurrence may be explained by a different flow regime, by a thicker ice sheet, by the influence of irregular bedrock topography on basal ice conditions at some stage in the past, or by a combination of these factors.     

Sedimentary processes at ice sheet grounding-zone wedges revealed by outcrops,Washington State (USA)

Grounding-zone wedges (GZWs) mark the grounding terminus of flowing marine-based ice streams and, in the presence of an ice shelf, the transition from grounded ice to floating ice. The morphology and stratigraphy of GZWs is predominantly constrained by seafloor bathymetry, seismic data, and sediment cores from deglaciated continental shelves; however, due to minimal constraints on GZW sedimentation processes, there remains a general lack of knowledge concerning the production of these landforms. Herein, outcrop observations are provided of GZWs from Whidbey Island in the Puget Lowlands (Washington State, USA). These features are characterized by prograded diamictons bounded by glacial unconformities, whereby the lower unconformity indicates glacial advance of the southern Cordilleran Ice Sheet and the upper unconformity indicates locally restricted ice advance during GZW growth; the consistent presence of an upper unconformity supports the hypothesis that GZWs facilitate ice advance during landform construction. Based on outcrop stratigraphy, GZW construction is dominated by sediment transport of deformation till and melt-out of entrained basal debris at the grounding line. This material may be subsequently remobilized by debris flows. Additionally, there is evidence for subglacial meltwater discharge at the grounding line, as well as rhythmically bedded silt and sand, indicating possible tidal pumping at the grounding line. A series of GZWs on Whidbey Island provides evidence of punctuated ice sheet movement during retreat, rather than a rapid ice sheet lift-off. The distance between adjacent GZWs of 10²–10³ m and the consistency in their size relative to modern ice stream grounding lines suggests that individual wedges formed over decades to centuries. © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Local scour around bridge abutments under ice covered condition- an experimental study

The local scour around bridge abutments has been an active research topic for many decades. But very few studies have been conducted regarding the impacts of ice cover on the local scour phenomenon aro...     

Geomorphology under ice streams: Moving from form to process

Ice streams are integral components of an ice sheet's mass balance and directly impact on sea level. Their flow is governed by processes at the ice‐bed interface which create landforms that, in turn, modulate ice stream dynamics through their influence on bed topography and basal shear stresses. Thus, ice stream geomorphology is critical to understanding and modelling ice streams and ice sheet dynamics. This paper reviews developments in our understanding of ice stream geomorphology from a historical perspective, with a focus on the extent to which studies of modern and palaeo‐ice streams have converged to take us from a position of near‐complete ignorance to a detailed understanding of their bed morphology. During the 1970s and 1980s, our knowledge was limited and largely gleaned from geophysical investigations of modern ice stream beds in Antarctica. Very few palaeo‐ice streams had been identified with any confidence. During the 1990s, however, glacial geomorphologists began to recognise their distinctive geomorphology, which included distinct patterns of highly elongated mega‐scale glacial lineations, ice stream shear margin moraines, and major sedimentary depocentres. However, studying relict features could say little about the time‐scales over which this geomorphology evolved and under what glaciological conditions. This began to be addressed in the early 2000s, through continued efforts to scrutinise modern ice stream beds at higher resolution, but our current understanding of how landforms relate to processes remains subject to large uncertainties, particularly in relation to the mechanisms and time‐scales of sediment erosion, transport and deposition, and how these lead to the growth and decay of subglacial bedforms. This represents the next key challenge and will require even closer cooperation between glaciology, glacial geomorphology, sedimentology, and numerical modelling, together with more sophisticated methods to quantify and analyse the anticipated growth of geomorphological data from beneath active ice streams. © 2017 The Authors. Earth Surface Processes and Landforms published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.     

Sensitivity of sea ice and ocean simulations to sea ice salinity in a coupled global climate model

The impacts of the spatiotemporal variations of sea ice salinity on sea ice and ocean characteristics have not been studied in detail, as the existing climate models neglect or misrepresent this process. To address this issue, this paper formulated a parameterization with more realistic sea ice salinity budget, and examined the sensitivity of sea ice and ocean simulations to the ice salinity variations and associated salt flux into the ocean using a coupled global climate model. Results show that the inclus...     

The formation of ice sails

Debris-covered glaciers are prone to the formation of a number of supraglacial geomorphological features, and generally speaking, their upper surfaces are far from level surfaces. Some of these features are due to radiation screening or enhancing properties of the debris cover, but theoretical explanations of the consequent surface forms are in their infancy. In this paper we consider a theoretical model for the formation of “ice sails”, which are regularly spaced bare ice features which are found on debris-covered glaciers in the Karakoram.     

Calculation of the solar activity effect on the production rate of cosmogenic radiocarbon in polar ice

The propagation of cosmic rays in the Earth??s atmosphere is simulated. Calculations of the omnidirectional differential flux of neutrons for different solar activity levels are illustrated. The solar activity effect on the production rate of cosmogenic radiocarbon by the nuclear-interacting and muon components of secondary cosmic radiation in polar ice is studied. It has been obtained that the ¹⁴C production rates in ice by the cosmic ray nuclear-interacting component are lower or higher than the average value by 30% during periods of solar activity maxima or minima, respectively. Calculations of the altitudinal dependence of the radiocarbon production rate in ice by the cosmic radiation components are illustrated.     

Hydrological processes in the Amur Liman

Data collected in 2005–2009 are analyzed to study the main features of hydrological processes in the main part of the Amur estuary—the Amur Liman. Data on the morphological structure of the liman and the surge and tidal phenomena are analyzed. The variability of salinity field in different phases of river hydrological cycle is studied. Wind currents are shown to have an appreciable effect on the water exchange and river runoff distribution between the seas of Japan and Okhotsk in the ice-free season. In summer, the Amur runoff enters the Sea of Okhotsk. The main features of the structure of liman water in summer are identified. The northern part of the estuary is freshened by river runoff and partially mixed; it has a two-layer structure. A salt wedge forms at the northern exit from the liman into the Sea of Okhotsk, and strong water stratification is observed there.     

The role of GPR techniques in determining ice cave properties: Peña Castil ice cave,Picos de Europa

The structure and ice content of ice caves are poorly understood. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) can provide useful insights but has only rarely been applied to ice caves. This paper interprets GPR images (radargrams) in terms of internal structure, stratification, compaction, thickness and volume of the ice block in the Peña Castil ice cave (Central Massif of Picos de Europa, northern Spain), providing the endokarst geometry of the ice cave in GPR data reflections. Eight radargrams were obtained by applying a shielded ground‐coupled antenna with a nominal frequency of 400 MHz. Although the radargrams do not depict the ice–basal bedrock interface, they suggest that the ice block is at least 54 m deep and similarly thick. Some curved reflection signatures suggest a potential vertical displacement in the block of ice, and thus certain dynamics in the ice body. Other images show numerous interbedded clasts and thin sediment layers imaged as banded reflections. In this particular cave a direct visual inspection of the ice stratigraphy is a difficult task but GPR provides clear reflectivity patterns of some of its internal features, making GPR a suitable instrument for this and future studies to achieve a better and broader understanding of the internal behavior of ice caves.     

Geothermal control on flow patterns in the Last Glacial Maximum ice sheet of Iceland

Because it is located both on the Mid‐Atlantic Ridge and on a mantle plume, Iceland is a region of intense tectonics and volcanism. During the last glaciation, the island was covered by an ice sheet approximately 1000 m thick. A reconstruction of the ice flow lines, based on glacial directional features, shows that the ice sheet was partly drained through fast‐flowing streams. Fast flow of the ice streams has been recorded in megascale lineations and flutes visible on the currently deglaciated bedrock, and is confirmed by simple mass balance considerations. Locations of the major drainage routes correlate with locations of geothermal anomalies, suggesting that ice stream activity was favoured by lubrication of the bed by meltwater produced in regions of high geothermal heat flux. Similar control of ice flow by geothermal activity is expected in ice sheets currently covering tectonically and volcanically active area such as the West Antarctic ice sheet. Copyright © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Unraveling driving factors for large rock–ice avalanche mobility

Large rock–ice avalanches have attracted attention from scientists for decades and some of these events have caused high numbers of fatalities. A relation between rock slope instabilities in cold high mountain areas and climate change is currently becoming more evident and questions about possible consequences and hazard scenarios in densely populated high mountain regions leading beyond historical precedence are rising. To improve hazard assessment of potential rock–ice avalanches, their mobility is a critical factor. This contribution is an attempt to unravel driving factors for the mobility of large rock–ice avalanches by synthesizing results from physical laboratory experiments and empirical data from 64 rock–ice avalanches with volumes >1x10⁶ m³ from glacierized high mountain regions around the world. The influence of avalanche volume, water and ice content, low‐friction surfaces, and topography on the apparent coefficient of friction (as a measure of mobility) is assessed. In laboratory experiments granular ice in the moving mass was found to reduce bulk friction up to 20% while water led to a reduction around 50% for completely saturated material compared with dry flows. Evidence for the effects of water as a key driving factor to enhance mobility was also found in the empirical data, while the influence of the ice content could not be confirmed to be of much relevance in nature. Besides liquefaction, it was confirmed that mobility increases with volumes and that frictional surface characteristics such as flow paths over glaciers are also dominant variables determining mass movement mobility. Effects of the topography along the flow path as well as channeling are assumed to be other critical factors. The results provide an empirical basis to roughly account for different path and flow characteristics of large rock–ice avalanches and to find appropriate ranges for friction parameters for scenario modeling and hazard assessments. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Weathering reflected by the chemical composition of alluvial soils from the Zeya and Selemdzha river valleys

The paper examines the chemical composition of alluvial soils from the Zeya and Selemdzha River valleys, one of the branch rivers in the Amur River basin. It has been established that the compositions of these soils are characterized by a relative shortage of practically all analyzed macro- and microelements as compared with UCC (upper continental crust) and PAAS (post- Arhean Australian average shale) compositions. The chemical composition of alluvial soils approximates that of the soils in NE China and Korea due to similar climatic and geographic conditions. On the basis of relationships between major and trace elements and peculiarities of trace elements concentration it is shown that the alluvial soils in the middle reaches of the Zeya River were formed by the sources largely transformed by chemical weathering processes. By comparison, the soils in the Selemdzha River and lower reaches of the Zeya River (below the Selemdzha River mouth) are dominated by material to a large degree reworked by the physical processes rather than chemical ones. This inference conforms with specific geological settings of the water-collector.     

北极夏季冰面上近地层特征及热量收支问题

应用1999年8月19～24日我国第1次北极考察资料对北极夏季近地层气象要素梯度特征和冰面热量收支问题进行了讨论.北极夏季近地层相对于冰面的相对湿度很大,经常接近于饱和状态,冰温具有明显的日变化,夜间冰面附近冰温梯度较大,白天很小.在冰温垂直分布中20cm冰层温度有时可出现极大值.冰面热量收支计算表明,夜间冰面辐射冷却损失热量主要由冰层向冰面热量输送来补偿.白天冰层的热量主要来源于穿透短波辐射,冰面和以下冰层间的热量交换很低.白天冰面冰雪融化热量是不可忽视的.     

Glacial geomorphology and ice ages in Tibet and the surrounding mountains

Abstract   Since 1973 new data have been obtained on the maximum extent of glaciation in High Asia. Evidence for an ice sheet covering Tibet during the last glacial period means a radical rethinking about glaciation in the northern hemisphere. The ice sheet's subtropical latitude, vast size (2.4 million km²) and high elevation (6000 m a.s.l.) are supposed to have resulted in a substantial, albedo-induced cooling of the Earth's atmosphere and the disruption of summer monsoon circulation. Moraines were found to reach down to 460 m a.s.l. on the southern flank of the Himalayas and to 2300 m a.s.l. on the northern slope of the Tibetan Plateau, in the Qilian Shan region. On the northern slopes of the Karakoram, Aghil and Kuen-Lun Mountains, moraines occur as far down as 1900 m a.s.l. In southern Tibet, radiographic analyses of erratics suggest a former ice thickness of at least 1200 m. Glacial polish and roches moutonnées in the Himalayas and Karakoram suggest former glaciers as thick as 1200–2700 m. On the basis of this evidence, a 1100–1600-m lower equilibrium line has been reconstructed, resulting in an ice sheet of 2.4 million km², covering almost all of Tibet. Radiometric ages, obtained by different methods, classify this glaciation as isotope stage 3–2 in age (Würmian, the last glacial period, ca  60 000–18 000 years ago).