Subglacial water flow and ice dynamics during glacial lake outburst floods observed from space

Glacial lake outburst floods (jökulhlaups) are challenging to study because they often take place below hundreds of meters of ice, and the complex interplay between lifting of the glacier and melting of the flood path is not well understood. Here, we provide unique insights into the mechanics of jökulhlaups and how they affect three-dimensional glacier motion using satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and field observations, acquired before, during and after two recent jökulhlaups (in 2021 and 2022) from the subglacial lake Grímsvötn in Iceland. The results indicate that the same event may alternate between channel flow and sheet flow and that ponding of water along the subglacial flood path can play a major role in jökulhlaup dynamics. This has important implications for physical jökulhlaup modeling and for better understanding the role of subglacial hydraulics on glacier dynamics, required for improved predictions of the future evolution of glaciers and ice sheets.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2026-04-03
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-70428-w
Primary Topic
Cryospheric studies and observations
Type
article
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article

Subglacial water flow and ice dynamics during glacial lake outburst floods observed from space

Eyjólfur Magnússon, Valentyn Tolpekin, Bergur Einarsson, Jan Wuite et al.
Nature Communications
Cryospheric studies and observations
article

Subglacial water flow and ice dynamics during glacial lake outburst floods observed from space

Eyjólfur Magnússon, Valentyn Tolpekin, Bergur Einarsson, Jan Wuite, Vincent Drouin, Benedíkt G. Ófeigsson, Þórdís Högnadóttir, Magnús T. Gudmundsson, Gunnar Sigurðsson, Finnur Pálsson, Joaquín M. C. Belart, Tómas Jóhannesson, Etienne Berthier, Thomas Nagler, Krista Hannesdóttir
article en

Abstract

Glacial lake outburst floods (jökulhlaups) are challenging to study because they often take place below hundreds of meters of ice, and the complex interplay between lifting of the glacier and melting of the flood path is not well understood. Here, we provide unique insights into the mechanics of jökulhlaups and how they affect three-dimensional glacier motion using satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and field observations, acquired before, during and after two recent jökulhlaups (in 2021 and 2022) from the subglacial lake Grímsvötn in Iceland. The results indicate that the same event may alternate between channel flow and sheet flow and that ponding of water along the subglacial flood path can play a major role in jökulhlaup dynamics. This has important implications for physical jökulhlaup modeling and for better understanding the role of subglacial hydraulics on glacier dynamics, required for improved predictions of the future evolution of glaciers and ice sheets.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 17(1)
Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR), University of Iceland (IS), Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR), Icelandic Meteorological Office (IS), Náttúrufræðistofnun (IS), Laboratoire d’Études en Géophysique et Océanographie Spatiales (FR), Environmental Earth Observation Information Technology (Austria) (AT), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (FR)
Openalex Percentile: Top 23%
Cryospheric studies and observations
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