Current projects

Ice motion instrumentation.
Subglacial pressure transducers were installed in a tunnel in a search for the main subglacial drainage channel. Four of these transducers were first installed in 1992 and are still functioning.  Since then three more have been installed, two in 1997 and one in 2003. Variations in subglacial pressure are examined and compared with meteorological conditions at the glacier surface and with discharge through the subglacial tunnel system.  NVE.

Variations in surface and basal velocity
Simultaneous measurements are made of surface velocity and basal sliding at the glacier bed.  Surface velocity is measured using dGPS measurements of stakes on the surface over periods of several days.  Measurements of basal pressure are already continuously measured.  Using these results the relation between motion at the base and surface, as well as changes in the pressure are examined.  NVE.

Biogeochemical evolution of in situ subglacial debris-ice melt systems
Subglacial environments have become the closest Earth surface analogue for life on other icy planetary bodies following the discovery that many geochemical weathering processes beneath ice-masses are mediated by microbes.  Samples are made of the basal ice and directly of meltwater runoff from the glacier.  University of Bristol, UK.

Bed Erosion
To study crack growth in subglacial bedrock , a granite step about 0.2 m high was installed.  A crack 40 mm deep was cut in its stoss surface to promote crack growth.  Acoustic emission sensors were used to count arrivals of elastic waves and locate their sources after periods when water was pumped to the lee of the step causing high water pressure.  Results indicate that crack growth was activated by water-pressure fluctuations that caused growth and shrinkage of a water-filled cavity in the lee of the step.  Iowa State University

Remote Sensing of Ice Ecosystems.
This programme aims to develop the first generation of chemical/biosensors for high resolution monitoring of the liquid water component of the Earth’s cryosphere.  The subglacial laboratory at the bed of Engabreen has been chosen as a test site for this programme due to the facilities and relative ease of accessibility.  For more information, see: http://www.ggy.bris.ac.uk/icy_ecosystems. University of Bristol and others.

Study of glacier-bed seismicity and its source mechanisms.
This work will provide the first test of micro-seismicity interpretations applied to the basal movement of glaciers.  The subglacial facilities will be used to induce slip events, measure properties of that slip directly and study the seismic expression of the slip.  Pennsylvania State University and Iowa State University