Understanding the material properties and physical conditions of basal ice is crucial for a comprehensive understanding of Antarctic ice-sheet dynamics. Yet, direct data are sparse and difficult to acquire, necessitating geophysical data for analysis. Here, we employed high-resolution ultra-wideband radar to map high-backscatter zones near the glacier bed within East Antarctica's Jutulstraumen drainage basin. Our results revealed that the basal ice in an area of ~ 10,000 square kilometers is composed of along-flow oriented sediment-laden basal ice units connected to the basal substrate, extending up to several hundred meters of thickness. Three-dimensional thermomechanical modeling suggests these units formed via basal freeze-on of subglacial water originating further upstream. Our findings suggest that basal freeze-on, and the entrainment and transport of subglacial material play a significant role for an accurate representation of material, physical, and rheological properties of the Antarctic ice sheet's basal ice, ultimately enhancing the accuracy and reliability of ice-sheet modeling.Here, we publish the outputs of our three-dimensional thermomechanical modeling.

Steady 3D Thermomechanical Ice Model outputs for the upstream region of the Jutulstraumen catchment:1. NetCDF files containing the following outputs:- AccThick: accumulated basal ice thickness in meters- Gflux: geothermal heat flux used in Watt per square meter- InDomain: mask indicating which grid cells were in the active part of the model domain- MeltRate: basal melt rate in meters per year (negative values represent freeze-on)- MeltRate_englacial: integrated englacial melt rate in meters per year- RelTemp: basal temperature relative to the pressure-dependent melting point, in degrees C or K- StrainHeat_basal: basal strain heating in Watt per square meter- StrainHeat_englacial: vertically integrated englacial strain heating in Watt per square meter- TemperateLayerThickness: thickness of temperate layer in meters2. Plots showing all outputs