Brief communication: An active subglacial lake beneath the upper Institute Ice Stream, West Antarctica, missing from existing inventories

We report an active subglacial lake beneath the upper Institute Ice Stream, West Antarctica (82.21° S, 68.85° W) absent from published inventories; the nearest catalogued lake is 70 km away. ICESat-2 laser altimetry and stereo elevation models independently record surface uplift of up to 5.9 m between 2012 and 2021 (+0.13 ± 0.03 km3), a fall of 8.7 ± 0.5 m at the centre of a 45 km2 outline between late 2021 and mid-2023 (−0.17 ± 0.02 km3), and slow recharge since. Two bed compilations route overflow 54–64 km north-north-east to the grounding line. Radar confirmation is still needed.

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Publication Details

Published
2026-11-11
DOI
https://doi.org/10.31223/x5d52m
Primary Topic
Cryospheric studies and observations
Type
preprint
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preprint

Brief communication: An active subglacial lake beneath the upper Institute Ice Stream, West Antarctica, missing from existing inventories

Cristian Andrade
Cryospheric studies and observations
preprint

Brief communication: An active subglacial lake beneath the upper Institute Ice Stream, West Antarctica, missing from existing inventories

Cristian Andrade
preprint en

Abstract

We report an active subglacial lake beneath the upper Institute Ice Stream, West Antarctica (82.21° S, 68.85° W) absent from published inventories; the nearest catalogued lake is 70 km away. ICESat-2 laser altimetry and stereo elevation models independently record surface uplift of up to 5.9 m between 2012 and 2021 (+0.13 ± 0.03 km3), a fall of 8.7 ± 0.5 m at the centre of a 45 km2 outline between late 2021 and mid-2023 (−0.17 ± 0.02 km3), and slow recharge since. Two bed compilations route overflow 54–64 km north-north-east to the grounding line. Radar confirmation is still needed.

Cryospheric studies and observations
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Brief communication: An active subglacial lake beneath the upper Institute Ice Stream, West Antarctica, missing from existing inventories — Cristian Andrade · (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS