Accelerating retreat and high-elevation thinning of glaciers in central Spitsbergen
Svalbard is a heavily glacier-covered archipelago in the Arctic. Dickson Land (DL), in the central part of the largest island, Spitsbergen, is relatively arid and, as a result, glaciers there are relatively small and restricted mostly to valleys and cirques. This study presents a comprehensive analy...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
2016-06-01
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| Series: | The Cryosphere |
| Online Access: | http://www.the-cryosphere.net/10/1317/2016/tc-10-1317-2016.pdf |
| Summary: | Svalbard is a heavily glacier-covered archipelago in the Arctic.
Dickson Land (DL), in the central part of the largest island, Spitsbergen, is
relatively arid and, as a result, glaciers there are relatively small and
restricted mostly to valleys and cirques. This study presents a comprehensive
analysis of glacier changes in DL based on inventories compiled from
topographic maps and digital elevation models for the Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum, the 1960s, 1990, and 2009/2011. Total glacier area has decreased by
∼ 38 % since the LIA maximum, and front retreat increased over
the study period. Recently, most of the local glaciers have been consistently
thinning in all elevation bands, in contrast to larger Svalbard ice masses
which remain closer to balance. The mean 1990–2009/2011 geodetic mass
balance of glaciers in DL is among the most negative from the Svalbard
regional means known from the literature. |
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| ISSN: | 1994-0416 1994-0424 |