Publication Date:
1995-02-01
Description:
River discharge measurements downstream of the Russell Glacier, near Kangerlussuaq (Søndre Strømfjord), West Greenland revealed the occurrence of short‐term discharge fluctuations during the 1991 melt season. Frontal ice‐cliff collapse results in temporary river damming, producing initial decreases in discharge and subsequent sudden flood peaks on dam failure. Fluctuations are less than two hours in duration, with a maximum discharge fluctuation magnitude of 50m3s−1, double that of normal ablation‐controlled diurnal fluctuations. As such, these events are exceeded in magnitude only by periodic jökulhlaups resulting from the drainage of an ice‐dammed lake further up‐glacier. The concentration of discharge fluctuations at the beginning of the melt season, the large number of ice blocks within the flow and the confinement of flows between ice block levees all add to the effectiveness of these events in terms of channel erosion and sediment transport. Copyright © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd
Print ISSN:
0885-6087
Electronic ISSN:
1099-1085
Topics:
Architecture, Civil Engineering, Surveying
,
Geography
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