Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Investigation Of Firn Aquifer Structure In Southeastern Greenland Using Active Source Seismology, Lynn N. Montgomery, Nicholas Schmerr, Scott Burdick, Richard R. Forster, Lora Koenig, Anatoly Legchenko, Stefan Ligtenberg, Clément Miège, Olivia L. Miller, D. Kip Solomon

Environmental Science and Geology Faculty Research Publications

In spring of 2011, a perennial storage of water was observed in the firn of the southeastern Greenland Ice Sheet (GrIS), a region of both high snow accumulation and high melt. This aquifer is created through percolation of surface meltwater downward through the firn, saturating the pore space above the ice-firn transition. The aquifer may play a significant role in sea level rise through storage or draining freshwater into the ocean. We carried out a series of active source seismic experiments using continuously refracted P-waves and inverted the first P-arrivals using a transdimensional Bayesian approach where the depth, velocity, and …