Glacier-base-cave-russells-gletscher-greenland

Russell Glacier () is a

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

in the

Qeqqata Qeqqata (, ) is a municipality in western Greenland, operational from 1 January 2009. The municipality was named after its location in the central-western part of the country. Its population is 9,378 as of January 2020. The administrative cente ...

municipality in central-western

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

. It flows from the

Greenland ice sheet The Greenland ice sheet is an ice sheet which forms the second largest body of ice in the world. It is an average of thick and over thick at its maximum. It is almost long in a north–south direction, with a maximum width of at a latitude ...

() in the western direction. The front of the glacier is located east of

Kangerlussuaq Kangerlussuaq (; ; ) is a settlement in western Greenland in the Qeqqata municipalities of Greenland, municipality located at the head of the Kangerlussuaq Fjord, fjord of the same name. It was Greenland's main air transport hub and the site of G ...

. It is active, advancing every year, and, due to easy access from Kangerlussuaq, it remains a popular place for tourists to visit.

Geography

The ice sheet outflow ending in Russell Glacier is bounded on the north by the

tundra In physical geography, a tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. There are three regions and associated types of tundra: #Arctic, Arctic, Alpine tundra, Alpine, and #Antarctic ...

highland of Isunngua and on the south by an exposed, barren, flattened

ridge A ridge is a long, narrow, elevated geomorphologic landform, structural feature, or a combination of both separated from the surrounding terrain by steep sides. The sides of a ridge slope away from a narrow top, the crest or ridgecrest, wi ...

of Akuliarusiarsuk. Several

meltwater Meltwater (or melt water) is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glaciers, glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelf, ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found during early spring (season), spring when snow packs a ...

outflow streams from the base of the glacier form the Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua river, which flows west-southwest towards Kangerlussuaq. The sandur basin of the outflow river forming the valley of the same name () is very shallow; shallow enough to form

quicksand Quicksand (also known as sinking sand) is a colloid consisting of fine granular material (such as sand, silt or clay) and water. It forms in saturated loose sand when the sand is suddenly agitated. When water in the sand cannot escape, it crea ...

fields several kilometers long. Directly to the west of the glacier is a large lake, the 2x10km Aajuitsup Tasia. Due to the minimal height differential, its waters are not conjoint with the meltwater outflow lake immediately to the west of Russell Glacier. A sibling, unnamed glacier approximately to the southeast of Russell Glacier is the source of the wide outflow meltwater river of Qinnguata Kuussua. The

confluence In geography, a confluence (also ''conflux'') occurs where two or more watercourses join to form a single channel (geography), channel. A confluence can occur in several configurations: at the point where a tributary joins a larger river (main ...

of the latter and the Akuliarusiarsuup Kuua river flowing from Russell Glacier is located at the eastern outskirts of the Kangerlussuaq settlement near the end of Kangerlussuaq Fjord, and used to be known as Watson River.

Methane cycling below the glacier

A 2014 study, based on subglacial drainage samples (dominated by

Pseudomonadota Pseudomonadota (synonym "Proteobacteria") is a major phylum of gram-negative bacteria. Currently, they are considered the predominant phylum within the domain of bacteria. They are naturally found as pathogenic and free-living (non- parasitic) ...

), found evidence of methane cycling below the ice sheet of the Russell Glacier. During the study, the most widespread surface melt on record in the past 120 years in Greenland was observed on 12 July 2012; unfrozen water was present on almost the entire ice sheet surface (98.6%). The findings indicate that

methanotroph Methanotrophs (sometimes called methanophiles) are prokaryotes that metabolize methane as their source of carbon and chemical energy. They are bacteria or archaea, can grow aerobically or anaerobically, and require single-carbon compounds to ...

s could serve as a biological methane sink in the subglacial ecosystem and, at least during the sample time, the region was a source of

atmospheric methane Atmospheric methane is the methane present in Earth's atmosphere. The concentration of atmospheric methane is increasing due to methane emissions, and is causing climate change. Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gases. Methane's radiati ...

. Scaled dissolved methane (CH₄) flux during the four months of the summer melt season was estimated at 990 Mg CH₄. Because the Russell-Leverett Glacier is representative of similar Greenland outlet glaciers, the researchers concluded that the Greenland Ice Sheet may represent a significant global methane source.

References

External links

*{{commons category inline, Russell Glacier Glaciers of Greenland Kangerlussuaq

Geography

Methane cycling below the glacier

See also

References

External links