Livingston Island is located near the northern tip of the Antarctic
Peninsula. The land is covered by ice for most of the part, which
forms ice caps and numbers of outlet glaciers. Under the influence of
warming temperature conditions, glaciers in the Antarctic Peninsula
region are thought to be rapidly changing. However, detailed studies
have been performed only a limited number of glaciers.
Johnsons and Hurd Glaciers on Livingston Island have been studied by
Spanish glaciologists since the establishment of Juan Carlos I Station
on Livingston Island in 1988. Ice thickness was surveyed in detail and
surface mass blance has been monitored for the last decade. The
glaciers are losing ice mass, but the rate of the mass loss is
decreasing under the influence of increasing precipitation. To better
understand the complex evolution of the glaciers in this region,
information on ice temperature and subglacial conditions are crucial
as they control dynamics of ice.
To study the englacial and subglacial conditions of Johnsons and Hurd
Glaciers, we collaborated with Prof. Francisco Navarro from
Universidad Politecnica de Madrid for hot water drilling in January
2015. With a lot of effort made by the project team as well as all the
members in Juan Carlos I Station, we drilled five boreholes and
installed sensors for ice temperature and subglacial water
pressure.
Publications
- Sugiyama, S., F. J. Navarro, T. Sawagaki, M. Minowa, T. Segawa, Y. Onuma, J. Otero and E. V. Vasilenko. 2019. Subglacial water pressure and ice speed variations at Johnsons Glacier, Livingston Island, Antarctic Peninsula. Journal of Glaciology, 65(252), 689-699, doi:10.1017/jog.2019.45.
[journal site]
