Interannual and seasonal evolution of supraglacial drainage systems on Nivlisen Ice Shelf, East Antarctica
- 1Durham University (Durham, United Kingdom)
Abstract
Supraglacial drainage systems represent critical components of the surface hydrology on Antarctic ice shelves, facilitating the redistribution of meltwater, including into and out of supraglacial lakes, potentially influencing ice-shelf stability. However, the seasonal and interannual variability in their spatial extent, structural evolution, and climatic sensitivity remain poorly quantified, particularly compared to observations of supraglacial lakes. In this study, we investigate the interannual evolution of supraglacial drainage systems on Nivlisen Ice Shelf in East Antarctica between 2017 and 2024 using Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 satellite imagery, with a detailed seasonal analysis during the 2018–2019 melt season. Key metrics including surface water area, total channel length, number of supraglacial drainage components, and the number of individual channels were derived to quantify the drainage evolution, system connectivity and complexity. We find significant interannual variability in the number of drainage components (from 34–186) and total channel length (from 345–1275 km), with peak length of channels observed in 2018. During the 2018–2019 melt season, channels progressively integrated and connected to form a very well-connected drainage system, which then fragmented towards the end of the melt season. We find that drainage systems are strongly influenced by ice shelf surface structures and undulations at a range of scales, with larger channels reforming in the same location. Correlation analysis shows that the evolution of drainage systems is tightly coupled to regional air temperature, with surface water extent and drainage connectivity strongly linked to reanalysis-based temperature outputs ( r >0.9, p <0.05). Snow had variable effects, depending on its timing and how readily it could be melted. Our findings underscore the important dynamic nature of supraglacial channels in redistributing meltwater on Antarctic ice shelves.
Versions
Related
- Seasonal and interannual dynamics of estuary connectivity along the California coast
- Seasonal and interannual variability of the oxygen minimum zone in the Gulf of California entrance: Insights from high-resolution coupled physical-biogeochemical modelling
- Seasonal icings reveal subsurface water drainage of a Greenland Ice Sheet outlet glacier
- Active hazardous slow faults drive drainage evolution in the Atacama Desert
- Seasonal evolution of suncup roughness describes broadband albedo decay on alpine snow
BibTeX
@article{chen2026interannual,
title = {{Interannual and seasonal evolution of supraglacial drainage systems on Nivlisen Ice Shelf, East Antarctica}},
author = {Jiao Chen and Rebecca A. Hodge and Stewart S. R. Jamieson and Chris R. Stokes},
journal = {The Cryosphere},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.5194/tc-20-5785-2026},
url = {https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/20/5785/2026/},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Interannual and seasonal evolution of supraglacial drainage systems on Nivlisen Ice Shelf, East Antarctica
AU - Jiao Chen
AU - Rebecca A. Hodge
AU - Stewart S. R. Jamieson
AU - Chris R. Stokes
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/12
JO - The Cryosphere
DO - 10.5194/tc-20-5785-2026
UR - https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/20/5785/2026/
AB - Supraglacial drainage systems represent critical components of the surface hydrology on Antarctic ice shelves, facilitating the redistribution of meltwater, including into and out of supraglacial lakes, potentially influencing ice-shelf stability. However, the seasonal and interannual variability in their spatial extent, structural evolution, and climatic sensitivity remain poorly quantified, particularly compared to observations of supraglacial lakes. In this study, we investigate the interannual evolution of supraglacial drainage systems on Nivlisen Ice Shelf in East Antarctica between 2017 and 2024 using Sentinel-2 and Landsat-8 satellite imagery, with a detailed seasonal analysis during the 2018–2019 melt season. Key metrics including surface water area, total channel length, number of supraglacial drainage components, and the number of individual channels were derived to quantify the drainage evolution, system connectivity and complexity. We find significant interannual variability in the number of drainage components (from 34–186) and total channel length (from 345–1275 km), with peak length of channels observed in 2018. During the 2018–2019 melt season, channels progressively integrated and connected to form a very well-connected drainage system, which then fragmented towards the end of the melt season. We find that drainage systems are strongly influenced by ice shelf surface structures and undulations at a range of scales, with larger channels reforming in the same location. Correlation analysis shows that the evolution of drainage systems is tightly coupled to regional air temperature, with surface water extent and drainage connectivity strongly linked to reanalysis-based temperature outputs ( r >0.9, p <0.05). Snow had variable effects, depending on its timing and how readily it could be melted. Our findings underscore the important dynamic nature of supraglacial channels in redistributing meltwater on Antarctic ice shelves.
SN - 1994-0424
ER -