Drained Supraglacial Lake Bed, Greenland
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Drained Supraglacial Lake Bed, Greenland

by Ian Joughin, Polar Science Center, Applied Physics Lab, University of Washington, Seattle, USA

This lake has drained through the bottom for several years in a row. The large block was initially formed in summer of 2006, but large cracks run through it from subsequent lake drainages. The black hole near the lower-left likely was formed during the 2007 lake drainage, when the lake fracturing created large blocks that floated away. This hole may not have formed a major moulin, since it was dry in 2007 with little melt sculpting. The large pool (middle right) at the intersection of two cracks may have been the main moulin that formed in 2006.