Ground-penetrating radar data acquired in the 2016/17 austral summer on Sørsdal Glacier, East Antarctica, provide evidence for meltwater lenses within porous surface ice that are conceptually similar to firn aquifers observed on the Greenland Ice Sheet and the Arctic and Alpine glaciers. These englacial water bodies are associated with a dry relict surface basin and consistent with perennial drainage into an interconnected englacial drainage system, which may explain a large englacial outburst flood observed in satellite imagery in the early 2016/17 melt season. Our observations indicate the rarely-documented presence of an englacial hydrological system in Antarctica, with implications for the storage and routing of surface meltwater. Future work should ascertain the spatial prevalence of such systems around the Antarctic coastline, and identify the degree of surface runoff redistribution and storage in the near surface, to quantify their impact on surface mass balance.

中文翻译：

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南极东部出口冰川中的冰川排水结构

2016/17 年南方夏季在东南极洲 Sørsdal 冰川采集的探地雷达数据为多孔表层冰中的融水透镜提供了证据，这些融水透镜在概念上类似于在格陵兰冰盖以及北极和高山冰川上观察到的冰冻含水层。这些冰河水体与干燥的残留地表盆地相关，并且与进入相互连接的冰河排水系统的常年排水相一致，这可以解释在 2016/17 融化季节早期在卫星图像中观察到的大型冰河爆发洪水。我们的观察表明，南极洲存在很少记录的冰河水文系统，这对地表融水的储存和路线产生了影响。未来的工作应确定南极海岸线周围此类系统的空间分布，