A quick check of the existence of a subglacial lake at Svalbard

The melting of glaciers coming with climate change threatens the heritage of the last glaciation of Europe likely contained in subglacial lakes in Greenland and Svalbard, which look fated to disappear. This aspect urges specialists to focus their studies (theoretical, numerical and on-field) on such fascinating objects. Along this line we have approached the validation of the conjecture of the existence of a subglacial lake beneath the Amundsenisen Plateau at South-Spitzbergen, Svalbard, where Ground Penetrating Radar measurements have revealed several flat signal spots, sign of the presence of a body of water. The whole investigation aspects and tools, mathematical modeling and numerical simulation procedure, the computational algorithm and the numerical results obtained on the real study case, have been sketched at workshop time, and the decision has been discussed to undertake drilling operations above the presumed ice/water front, where subglacial lake water bio-chemicals might be traceable. This investigation is a follow-up of the multi and interdisciplinary research activities based at the Arctic Station ''Dirigibile Italia'', coordinated by the ''Dipartimento Scienze del Sistema Terra e Tecnologie per l'Ambiente'' of CNR (I) and of the transnational project 'SvalGlac - Sensitivity of Svalbard Glaciers to Climate Change' funded by ESF-ERANET PolarClimate Consortium (PNRA for Italy).