Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28163988›Full record

ArticleJournal of geophysical research. Earth surface2016

A synthesis of the basal thermal state of the Greenland Ice Sheet.

Joseph A MacGregor, Mark A Fahnestock, Ginny A Catania, Andy Aschwanden, Gary D Clow, William T Colgan, S Prasad Gogineni, Mathieu Morlighem, Sophie M J Nowicki, John D Paden and 2 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of geophysical research. Earth surface, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
20citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

20 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Upper mantle temperatures illuminate the Iceland hotspot track and understanding of ice-Earth interactions in Greenland.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
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  7. Rapid basal melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet from surface meltwater drainage.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2022
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  8. Article
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  12. Ice sheet flow with thermally activated sliding. Part 1: the role of advection.Proceedings. Mathematical, physical, and engineering sciences · 2019
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  19. Recent Progress in Greenland Ice Sheet Modelling.Current climate change reports · 2017
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Joseph A MacGregorInstitute for Geophysics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.
Mark A FahnestockGeophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.
Ginny A CataniaInstitute for Geophysics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA; Dept. of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.
Andy AschwandenGeophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska, USA.
Gary D ClowU.S. Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado, USA; Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA.
William T ColganDept. of Earth and Space Science and Engineering, York University, Toronto, Canada.
S Prasad GogineniCenter for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
Mathieu MorlighemDept. of Earth System Science, University of California, Irvine, California, USA.
Sophie M J NowickiCryospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, USA.
John D PadenCenter for Remote Sensing of Ice Sheets, The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas, USA.
Stephen F PriceFluid Dynamics Group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA.
Hélène SeroussiJet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA.

Funding

Goddard Space Flight Center NASAIntramural NASA N-999999Science Earth Science System NASA
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The basal thermal state of an ice sheet (frozen or thawed) is an important control upon its evolution, dynamics and response to external forcings. However, this state can only be observed directly within sparse boreholes or inferred conclusively from the presence of subglacial lakes. Here we synthesize spatially extensive inferences of the basal thermal state of the Greenland Ice Sheet to better constrain this state. Existing inferences include outputs from the eight thermomechanical ice-flow models included in the SeaRISE effort. New remote-sensing inferences of the basal thermal state are derived from Holocene radiostratigraphy, modern surface velocity and MODIS imagery. Both thermomechanical modeling and remote inferences generally agree that the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream and large portions of the southwestern ice-drainage systems are thawed at the bed, whereas the bed beneath the central ice divides, particularly their west-facing slopes, is frozen. Elsewhere, there is poor agreement regarding the basal thermal state. Both models and remote inferences rarely represent the borehole-observed basal thermal state accurately near NorthGRIP and DYE-3. This synthesis identifies a large portion of the Greenland Ice Sheet (about one third by area) where additional observations would most improve knowledge of its overall basal thermal state.

Identifiers

PMID28163988
PMCPMC5289704

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