On Wed, 22 Aug 2007, Hank Roberts wrote:
>> whether the Antarctic situation might resemble the postulated 'ice-dam'...
>
> I asked the same thing over at Stoat a while back -- left some notes
> and cites in the 'Why Study Antarctica' thread there, after coming
> across a bunch of articles about water moving under the ice, liquid
> water found in large voids below the ice when drilling through the
> ice, rapid drumlin formation under the Antarctic ice, and then taking
> another look at the Channeled Scablands.
>
> All these lovely drawings of "meltwater lakes dammed up behind ice"
> seem to have been done before people started looking at the way melt
> water goes down below the ice.

Oh dear, I'd better answer then :-)

As far as I know, the laurentide ice dams were holding back vast lakes. There 
is 
nothing analogous to that in Antarctica now.

As for the sub-ice flow now in Ant: I'm (fairly) sure that this is in areas 
where the ice grounds below sea level and the overpressure is low. Anthing 
above 
sea level with 1km of ice above it is going to be pretty water tight. I think.

-W.

William M Connolley | [EMAIL PROTECTED] | http://www.antarctica.ac.uk/met/wmc/
Climate Modeller, British Antarctic Survey | 07985 935400

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