Antarctic subglacial lake ellsworth

John Woodward, Martin J. Siegert, Andy M. Smith, George Royston-Bishop

    Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

    Abstract

    Subglacial Lake Ellsworth is located near the Ellsworth Mountains in West Antarctica at 78.9°S 90.6°W. The lake basin is in the center of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) in the Pine Island Glacier drainage basin, 20 km from the ice divide with the Institute Ice Stream. The lake is believed to be approximately 10 km long and over 3 km across at its widest point. The gradient of the bed surrounding Lake Ellsworth is at least twice as great as the lake surface, which implies that the depth of the lake could be of the order of tens if not hundreds of meters (Siegert et al., 2004). The ice overlying the lake is between 3.2 and 3.4 km thick, suggesting that the lake surface is over 1 km beneath present sea level. Lake Ellsworth is located within a distinct topographic hollow, which is ∼1.5 km deeper than the surrounding bed.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationEncyclopedia of Lakes and Reservoirs
    EditorsLars Bengtsson, Reginald W. Herschy, Rhodes W. Fairbridge
    Place of PublicationDordrecht
    PublisherSpringer
    Pages31-34
    Number of pages4
    Edition1
    ISBN (Electronic)9781402044106
    ISBN (Print)9781402056161
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2012

    Publication series

    NameEncyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series
    ISSN (Print)1388-4360
    ISSN (Electronic)1871-756X

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