The goal of this thesis is to improve our understanding of the Greenland ice sheet (GrIS) and how it responds to climate change. This was achieved using ice core records to infer elevation changes of the GrIS during the Holocene (11.7 ka BP to Present). The inferred elevation changes show the response of the ice sheet interior to the Holocene Thermal Maximum (HTM; 9-5 ka BP) when temperatures across Greenland were warmer than present. These ice-core derived thinning curves act as a new set of key constraints on the deglacial history of the GrIS. Furthermore, a calibration was conducted on a three-dimensional thermomechanical ice sheet, glacial isostatic adjustment, and relative sea-level model of GrIS evolution during the most recent deglaciation (21 ka BP to present). The model was data-constrained to a variety of proxy records from paleoclimate archives and present-day observations of ice thickness and extent.

Environmental change in the Arctic proceeds at an unprecedented rate. The Pliocene epoch (5-2.65 million years ago) represents an analog for future climate conditions, with pCO2 and continental configurations similar to present. Yet conditions in the Pliocene Arctic are poorly characterized because of sparse sampling. The records that do exist indicate periods of extreme warmth, as well as the first expansion of large ice-sheets in the Northern Hemisphere, took place from the end of the Pliocene into the early Pleistocene. Understanding these deposits and their implications for our future requires developing a sense of climatic evolution across the Plio-Pleistocene transition and especially during the intensification of Northern Hemisphere Glaciation (iNHG) ~2.7 million years ago. Here we reconstruct environmental change in the Arctic using a suite of organic geochemical proxies in a sedimentary archive recovered from Lake El'gygytgyn, Arctic Northeast Russia. We use the distribution of branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) and the hydrogen isotopic composition (δD) of plant leaf-waxes (n-alkanes) to reconstruct relative temperature change across the interval spanning 2.8 to 2.4 million years ago. Our work demonstrates that, following the first major glaciation of the Northern Hemisphere, it took multiple glacial cycles for the Arctic to become synchronized with the climatic changes recorded in the deep ocean. This work has implications for understanding the role of sea-level, sea-ice, vegetation and carbon-cycle feedbacks in a changing Arctic.

The Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets are losing mass and contributing to global sea-level rise. Ice shelves, floating ice attached to the margins of the ice sheets, modulate sea-level rise by restraining ice-sheet flow out towards the oceans, but are sensitive to surface melting. The formation of surface meltwater lakes on ice shelves can trigger rapid ice-shelf collapse. However, surface meltwater also flows atop ice shelves through rivers. The impact of rivers on ice-shelf stability is unknown. Previous studies of ice-shelf hydrology hypothesize that rivers mitigate the damage-potential of lakes by removing surface water off of the ice shelf, but also suggest that rivers enhance ice-shelf fracturing by incising into areas of already thin ice. This dissertation is focused on exploring the role of rivers on ice-shelf stability using remote sensing datasets, conceptual models, and Augmented Reality (AR). Focusing on ice shelves in Greenland, I present the discovery of a new ice-shelf surface hydrology feature, an ice-shelf estuary, and demonstrate its potential to weaken ice shelves. I fully document this new process on the Petermann Ice Shelf, where flow reverses at the mouth of the Petermann Estuary. This study marks the first observation of ocean water atop an ice shelf. I also document the initiation and growth of fracturing along the estuary channel, and a history of rectilinear calving events, where icebergs calve along longitudinal rivers. Based on this analysis of the Petermann Estuary, I propose a new mechanism for damaging ice shelves: estuarine weakening. I present evidence that this process also occurs on the Ryder Ice Shelf in northwest Greenland. My analysis demonstrates that the role of rivers on ice-shelf stability depends on how the river mouth evolves. If ice-shelf waterfalls at the river mouth incise to sea level and form estuaries, flow reversal will modulate water export off the shelf and maintain the damage-potential of lakes, and estuarine weakening may lead to a new mode of ice-shelf calving. By analyzing the three-dimensional (3D) structure of the Petermann and Ryder Ice Shelves and Estuaries with remote sensing and radar data, I find that basal channels are an important driver of estuary development as they dictate the linearity of surface rivers. Determining the role that basal channels play in estuary formation requires accurate and appropriate data visualization tools. I develop AR applications to visualize radar data on ice shelves, towards enabling more intuitive and sophisticated interpretation of the ice-shelf structure in 3D. Through simple conceptual modeling, I suggest that although basal channels precondition ice-shelf estuary formation, estuary formation is strongly controlled by river incision. Finally, I present a model of ice-shelf estuary formation as a function of surface and basal melting. Using this conceptual model, I predict that ice-shelf estuaries could form in Antarctica in the near future. Surface melting in Antarctica is predicted to increase in under half a century. Estuary formation in Antarctica will be accelerated by lengthening of the melt season, and estuaries may form far from the calving front if rivers intersect upstream rifts. I show that ice-shelf estuaries could evolve from ice-shelf rivers in a warming Antarctica, introducing new ice-shelf weakening mechanisms. This increases the urgency to understand and include ice-shelf estuarine processes in ice-sheet models.

No description available.

Ice sheets are among the key controls on global climate and sea level. A detailed understanding of their dynamics is crucial to make accurate predictions of their future mass balance. Ice streams are the dominant negative component in this balance, accounting for up to 90% of the Antarctic ice flux into ice shelves and ultimately into the sea. Despite their importance, our understanding of ice-stream dynamics is far from complete. A range of observations associate ice streams with meltwater. Meltwater lubricates the ice at its bed, allowing it to slide with less internal deformation. It is believed that ice streams may appear due to a localisation feedback between ice flow, basal melting and water pressure in the underlying sediments. This thesis aims to address the instability of ice-stream formation by considering potential feedbacks between the basal boundary and ice flow. Chapter 2 considers ice-flow models, formulating a model that is capable of capturing the leading-order dynamics of both a slow-moving ice sheet and rapidly flowing ice streams. Chapter 3 investigates the consequences of applying different phenomenological sliding laws as the basal boundary condition in this ice-flow model. Chapter 4 presents a model of subglacial water flow below ice sheets, and particularly below ice streams. This provides a more physical representation of processes occurring at the bed. Chapter 5 then investigates the coupled behaviour of the water with the sediment, and Chapter 6 the coupled behaviour of the water with the ice flow. Under some conditions this coupled system gives rise to ice streams due to instability of the internal dynamics.

La dernière période glaciaire est marquée par la présence de deux grandes calottes boréales recouvrant l’actuel Canada et le nord de l’Eurasie. Ces calottes constituent un élément actif du système climatique en interagissant avec les différentes composantes du système Terre. L’objectif de cette thèse est de déterminer par quels mécanismes les changements de circulation atmosphérique lors du dernier cycle glaciaire induisent potentiellement une téléconnexion entre les paléo-calottes de l’hémisphère nord. L’utilisation d’un modèle couplé climat-calotte simplifié m’a permis de tester séparément l’influence de la topographie et de l’albédo des calottes sur les champs de température et de précipitation lors du dernier cycle glaciaire, et de mettre en évidence le rôle de la circulation atmosphérique dans la synergie entre les paléo-calottes de l’hémisphère nord. Pour étudier plus en détail les mécanismes de cette interaction, l’utilisation d’un modèle de circulation générale s’est avérée nécessaire. J’ai tout d’abord effectué une inter-comparaison des modèles ayant participé à l’exercice PMIP3 pour le dernier maximum glaciaire (DMG). Cette inter-comparaison a permis d’illustrer l’impact des conditions glaciaires sur le décalage du courant-jet en Atlantique Nord et d’établir un lien entre ce décalage et les précipitations au sud de l’Europe. Enfin, à l’aide d’expériences idéalisées menées avec le modèle atmosphérique LMDZ, j’ai pu étudier le rôle de chacune des calottes dans les changements de circulation atmosphérique observés auDMG. Cette étude montre en particulier l’influence notable de la calotte nord-américaine sur le bilan de masse de surface de la calotte eurasienne. / The last glacial period is characterized by the presence of two large ice sheets covering Canada and North Eurasia. These ice sheets are a key element of the climatic system by interacting with all the components of the Earth system. The aim of this thesis is to determine by which mechanisms changes in atmospheric circulation may have induced a teleconnexionbetween the Northern hemisphere paleo-ice sheets. The use of a simplified coupled climate-ice sheet model allowed to test separately the influence of the ice-sheet topography and albedo on temperature and precipitation fields throughout the last glacial cycle and to highlight the role of atmospheric circulation within the synergy of past boreal ice sheets.To investigate in more details the underlying mechanisms, the use of a general circulation model was necessary.I therefore carried out an inter-comparisonof the PMIP3 models to examine the GCM responsesto glacial conditions. This work allowed to determinethe role of glacial conditions on the shift of the NorthAtlantic jet stream position and to establish a relationshipbetween this shift and the amount of precipitationover southern Europe. The last part of this thesisis devoted to the respective role of each ice sheeton atmospheric circulation changes observed underglacial conditions. To achieve this, I performed idealizedexperiments with the atmospheric circulationmodel LMDZ. The results highlight the key influenceof the North American ice sheet on the Eurasian icesheet surface mass balance.

The internal structure of ice sheets reflects the history of flow and deformation experienced by the ice mass. Flow and deformation are controlled by processes occurring within the ice mass and at its boundaries, including surface accumulation or ablation, ice rheology, basal topography, basal sliding, and basal melting or freezing. The internal structure and basal environment of ice sheets is studied with ice-penetrating radar. Recently, radar observations in Greenland and Antarctica have imaged large englacial structures rising from near the bed that deform the overlying stratigraphy into anticlines, synclines, and overturned folds. The mechanisms that may produce these structures include basal freeze-on, travelling slippery patches at the ice base, and rheological contrasts within the ice column. In this thesis, I explore the setting and mechanisms that produce large basal stratigraphic structures inside ice sheets. First, I use radar data to map subglacial hydrologic networks that deliver meltwater uphill towards freeze-on structures in East Antarctica. Next, I use a thermomechanical flowline model to demonstrate that trains of alternating slippery and sticky patches can form underneath ice sheets and travel downstream over time. The disturbances to the ice flow field produced by these travelling patches produce stratigraphic folds resembling the observations. I then examine the overturned folds produced by a single travelling sticky patch using a kinematic flowline model. This model is used to interpret stratigraphic measurements in terms of the dynamic properties of basal slip. Finally, I use a simple local one-dimensional model to estimate the thickness of basal freeze-on that can be produced based on the supply of available meltwater, the thermal boundary conditions, ice sheet geometry, and the ice flow regime.

Subglacial water plays an important role in the regulation of an ice sheet's mass balance. It may be the dominant control on the velocities of ice streams and outlet glaciers on scales of months to millennia. Recent satellite observations of ice surface elevation changes have given researchers new insights into how subglacial water is stored and transported. Localized uplift and settling of the ice surface implies that lakes exist beneath the ice sheet that are being filled and drained on relatively short time scales. %At the base of an ice sheet water can be transported through a variety of drainage networks or stored in subglacial lakes. Here, a numerical investigation of the mechanisms of transport and storage of subglacial water and the associated time scales is presented. Experiments are carried out using a finite element model of coupled ice and water flow. The first experiment seeks to understand the relationship between the depth of a basal depression and the area over which the feature affects basal water flow. It is found that as the perturbation to a topographic depression's depth is increased, water is rerouted in response to the perturbation. Additionally it is found that the relationship between perturbation depth and the extent upstream to which its effects reach is nonlinear. The second experiment examines how the aspect ratio of bed features (prolate, oblate, or equidimensional) influences basal water flow. It is found that the systems that develop and their interactions are mediated by both the topography and the feedbacks taken into account by the coupling of the systems in the model. Features oriented parallel to ice and water flow are associated with distributed fan systems that develop branches which migrate laterally across the domain and interact with one another on monthly and yearly timescales. Laterally oriented features develop laterally extensive ponds. As the ratio of longitudinal to lateral dimension of the topography is increased, a combination of these two water distributions is seen.

Graduation date: 1994

A new Earth system model of intermediate complexity, LOVECLIM, has been developed in order to study long-term future climate changes. In particular, LOVECLIM includes an interactive Greenland and Antarctic ice sheet model (AGISM) as well as an oceanic carbon cycle model (LOCH). Those climatic components can have a great impact on future climate. However, most studies investigating future climate changes do not take them into account. The few studies in recent literature assessing the impact of polar ice sheets on future climate draw very different conclusions, which shows the need for developing such a model. The aim of this study is to analyse the possible perturbations of climate induced by human activities over the next millennia. A particular attention is given to the evolution of the oceanic thermohaline circulation. A series of numerical simulations have been performed with LOVECLIM over the next millennia using various forcing scenarios. The global equilibrium warming computed by the model ranges from 0.55°C to 3.75°C with respect to preindustrial times. The model does not simulate a complete shut down of the oceanic thermohaline circulation but a transient weakening followed by a quasi-recovering at equilibrium. In most of the projections, the Greenland ice sheet undergoes a continuous reduction in volume, leading to an almost total disappearance in the most pessimistic scenarios. The impact of the Greenland deglaciation on climate has been assessed through sensitivity experiments. The removal of the Greenland ice sheet is responsible for a regional amplification of the global warming inducing a total melt of Arctic sea ice in summer. The freshwater flux from Greenland generates large salinity anomalies in the North Atlantic Ocean that reduce the rate of North Atlantic Deep Water formation, slowing down the oceanic thermohaline circulation.