Groundwater–glacier meltwater interaction in proglacial aquifers

Ó Dochartaigh, Brighid É.; MacDonald, Alan M.; Black, Andrew R.; Everest, Jez; Wilson, Paul; Darling, W. George; Jones, Lee; Raines, Mike

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4527-2019

Articles | Volume 23, issue 11

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4527-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4527-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 23, issue 11

Research article

|

05 Nov 2019

Research article |

| 05 Nov 2019

Groundwater–glacier meltwater interaction in proglacial aquifers

Brighid É. Ó Dochartaigh, Alan M. MacDonald, Andrew R. Black, Jez Everest, Paul Wilson, W. George Darling, Lee Jones, and Mike Raines

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-23-4527-2019-supplement

Data sets

Groundwater Monitoring Data, Virkisjokull Glacier Observatory, 2012-2018 B. É. Ó Dochartaigh, A. M. MacDonald, P. Wilson, and J. Everest https://doi.org/10.5285/3c28c1e9-d19d-431c-8c30-e9a014447d7b

Water chemistry and stable isotope data, Virkisjokull Glacier Observatory, 2011-2018 A. M. MacDonald, B. É. Ó Dochartaigh, and H. C. Fallas https://doi.org/10.5285/14da9c02-c5ec-4019-8e5c-06c744d8be9d

Short summary

We provide evidence of high groundwater storage and flow in catchments with active glaciers. Groundwater is found within gravels at the front of glaciers and replenished by both ice melt and precipitation. We studied a glacier in Iceland for 3 years, characterising the aquifer properties and measuring groundwater, river flow and precipitation. The results are important for accurately measuring meltwater and show that groundwater can provide strategic water supplies in de-glaciating catchments.