MEASURING TIME-DEPENDENT TRANSPORT AND DEDUCING EROSION AND DEPOSITION IN A MODERN GLACIER

Strain markers remotely inserted into the bed of an Icelandic glacier demonstrate a pattern of time-dependent strain over a 3 week period. It is possible to deduce the varying patterns and rates of local erosion and deposition from this data. It shows major diurnal shifts in these patterns that in part reflect changes in subglacial water pressures. This approach is applied to an instrumented site that was subsequently overridden by the glacier. The displacement of strain markers and other instruments permits pattern of time dependent deposition over the whole period of a short-lived mini-surge to be deduced.