The 1918 eruption of the glacially capped Katla volcano, southern Iceland, generated a violent jö kulhlaup, or glacial outburst flood, inundating a large area of Mý rdalssandur, the proglacial outwash plain, where it deposited ca 1 km 3 of volcaniclastic sediment. The character of the 1918 jö kulhlaup is contentious, having been variously categorized as a turbulent water flow, a hyperconcentrated flow or as a debris flow, based on localized outcrop analysis. In this study, outcrop-based architectural analyses of the 1918 deposits reveal the presence of lenticular and tabular bedsets associated with deposition from quasi-stationary antidunes and down-current migrating antidunes, and from regular based bedsets, associated with transient chuteand-pool bedforms, all of which are associated with turbulent, transcritical to supercritical water flow conditions. Antidune wavelengths range from 24 to 96 m, corresponding to flow velocities of 6 to 12 m sec )1 and average flow depths of 5 to 19 m. This range of calculated flow velocities is in good agreement with estimates made from eyewitness accounts. Architectural analysis of the 1918 jö kulhlaup deposits has led to an improved estimation of flow parameters and flow hydraulics associated with the 1918 jö kulhlaup that could not have been achieved through localized outcrop analysis. The observations presented here provide additional sedimentological and architectural criteria for the recognition of deposits associated with transcritical and supercritical water flow conditions. The physical scale of sedimentary architectures associated with the migration of bedforms is largely dependent on the magnitude of the formative flow events or processes; sedimentary analyses must therefore be undertaken at the appropriate physical scale if reliable interpretations, regarding modes of deposition and formative flow hydraulics, are to be made.

ABSTRACT. Jö kulhlaups in 2007 and 2008 from an ice-dammed lake at the northern margin of Russell Glacier, West Greenland, marked the onset of a renewed jö kulhlaup cycle after 20 years of stability. We present a record of successive ice-dammed lake drainage events and associated ice-margin dynamics spanning $25 years. Robust calculations of lake volumes and peak discharges are made, based on intensive field surveys and utilizing high-spatial-resolution orthophotographs of the lake basin and ice margin. These data enable identification of controls on the behaviour of the ice-dammed lake and provide the first field-based examination of controls on jö kulhlaup magnitude and frequency for this system. We find that Russell Glacier jö kulhlaups have a much higher peak discharge than predicted by the Clague-Mathews relationship, which we attribute to an unusually short englacial/subglacial routeway and the presence of a thin ice dam that permits incomplete sealing of jö kulhlaup conduits between lake drainage events. Additionally, we demonstrate that the passage of jökulhlaups through an interlinked system of proglacial bedrock basins produces significant attenuation of peak discharge downstream. We highlight that improved understanding of jökulhlaup dynamics requires accurate information about ice-dammed lake volume and ice-proximal jö kulhlaup discharge.

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Abstract. Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have the potential to capture information about the earth's surface in dangerous and previously inaccessible locations. Through image acquisition of flash flood events and subsequent object-based analysis, highly dynamic and oft-immeasurable hydraulic phenomena may be quantified at previously unattainable spatial and temporal resolutions. The potential for this approach to provide valuable information about the hydraulic conditions present during dynamic, high-energy flash floods has until now not been explored. In this paper we adopt a novel approach, utilizing the Kande–Lucas–Tomasi (KLT) algorithm to track features present on the water surface which are related to the free-surface velocity. Following the successful tracking of features, a method analogous to the vector correction method has enabled accurate geometric rectification of velocity vectors. Uncertainties associated with the rectification process induced by unsteady camera movements are subsequently explored. Geo-registration errors are relatively stable and occur as a result of persistent residual distortion effects following image correction. The apparent ground movement of immobile control points between measurement intervals ranges from 0.05 to 0.13 m. The application of this approach to assess the hydraulic conditions present in the Alyth Burn, Scotland, during a 1 : 200 year flash flood resulted in the generation of an average 4.2 at a rate of 508 measurements s−1. Analysis of these vectors provides a rare insight into the complexity of channel–overbank interactions during flash floods. The uncertainty attached to the calculated velocities is relatively low, with a spatial average across the area of ±0.15 m s−1. Little difference is observed in the uncertainty attached to out-of-bank velocities (±0.15 m s−1), and within-channel velocities (±0.16 m s−1), illustrating the consistency of the approach.

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Over the past few years there has been an increase in understanding of glacier-impounded or ‘ice-dammed’ lake behaviour. The spectacular jökulhlaup (catastrophic flood) from Grímsvötn, Iceland in November 1996 has both raised the profile of such events and emphasized the need for awareness of the processes involved. This review summarizes the extent of current knowledge of ice-dammed lakes, highlighting key developments and outlining areas of study still subject to difficulties. Controls on ice-dammed lake formation and persistence are identified, and cycles of jökulhlaup activity are related to glacier fluctuations. Ice-dammed lake drainage trigger mechanisms are reviewed and recent progress in the understanding of such mechanisms is emphasized. Controls on jökulhlaup routing and the development and character of jökulhlaup conduits are discussed and recent advances in jökulhlaup prediction, hydrograph modelling and peak discharge estimation are assessed. A process-based schematic model, drawing on published research, links ice-dammed lake occurrence and drainage to jökulhlaup characteristics. It is demonstrated that ice-dammed lake and ice-dam characteristics ultimately control seven key jökulhlaup attributes which determine the potential impact of jökulhlaups on both landscape and human activity in glaciated regions.