Western Greenland Ice Sheet ice temperature profiles, 2010-2012

Basal thermal conditions and temperature structure of the ice are important controls on motion of the Greenland ice sheet. Based on this motivation, temperatures were measured at the ice sheet bed and through the ice column in boreholes drilled to using hot water methods in western Greenland. Boreholes were drilled, and temperatures measured, in 2010, 2011, and 2012 at sites extending up to 46 kilometers (km) from the terminus of Isunnguata Sermia, a land terminating outlet glacier. Measurements are presented in 10 boreholes were drilled through the full ice column ranging from 100 meters (m) to > 820 m thickness, and in an additional borehole drilled to 700 m depth in the Isunnguata Sermia outlet trough that did not intersect the ice sheet bed.