Surface Expression and Apparent Timing of Subglacial Lake Oscillations Controlled by Viscous Ice Flow

Subglacial lakes are bodies of water that form at the base ice sheets and glaciers. Ice-surface elevation above these responds to volume changes, providing one few ways monitor subglacial hydrological systems. Here, we use numerical models compare surface elevation-derived estimates subglacial-lake length, water-volume change, highstand or lowstand timing with their true values. Because flow influences expression lake-volume correspondence between values depends strongly on thickness, volume-change rate, basal drag coefficient. For many realistic combinations factors, viscous relaxation ice-sheet can render lake volume-changes unobservable altimetry. Our results highlight need for new estimation methods account effects flow, as well improvements current resolution limitations some events