Local surface mass-balance reconstruction from a tephra layer – a case study on the northern slope of Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland
ABSTRACT Most Icelandic glaciers show high-accumulation rates during winter and strong surface melting during summer. Although it is difficult to establish and maintain mass-balance programs on these glaciers, mass-balance series do exist for several of the ice caps (Björnsson and others, 2013). We...
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Language: | English |
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Cambridge University Press (CUP)
2016
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.119 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143016001192 |
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crcambridgeupr:10.1017/jog.2016.119 2024-09-09T19:41:29+00:00 Local surface mass-balance reconstruction from a tephra layer – a case study on the northern slope of Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland MAYER, CHRISTOPH JAENICKE, JULIA LAMBRECHT, ASTRID BRAUN, LUDWIG VÖLKSEN, CHRISTOF MINET, CHRISTIAN MÜNZER, ULRICH 2016 http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.119 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143016001192 en eng Cambridge University Press (CUP) http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Journal of Glaciology volume 63, issue 237, page 79-87 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 journal-article 2016 crcambridgeupr https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.119 2024-06-19T04:03:26Z ABSTRACT Most Icelandic glaciers show high-accumulation rates during winter and strong surface melting during summer. Although it is difficult to establish and maintain mass-balance programs on these glaciers, mass-balance series do exist for several of the ice caps (Björnsson and others, 2013). We make use of the frequent volcanic eruptions in Iceland, which cause widespread internal tephra layers in the ice caps, to reconstruct the surface mass balance (SMB) in the ablation zone. This method requires information about surface geometry and ice velocity, derived from remote-sensing information. In addition, the emergence angle of the tephra layer needs to be known. As a proof-of-concept, we utilize a prominent tephra layer of the Mýrdalsjökull Ice Cap to infer local SMB estimates in the ablation area back to 1988. Using tephra-layer outcrop locations across the glacier at different points in time it is possible to determine local mass changes (loss and redistribution) for a large part of the ablation zone, without the use of historic elevation models, which often are not available. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Ice cap Iceland Journal of Glaciology Mýrdalsjökull Cambridge University Press Mýrdalsjökull ENVELOPE(-19.174,-19.174,63.643,63.643) Journal of Glaciology 63 237 79 87 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Cambridge University Press |
op_collection_id |
crcambridgeupr |
language |
English |
description |
ABSTRACT Most Icelandic glaciers show high-accumulation rates during winter and strong surface melting during summer. Although it is difficult to establish and maintain mass-balance programs on these glaciers, mass-balance series do exist for several of the ice caps (Björnsson and others, 2013). We make use of the frequent volcanic eruptions in Iceland, which cause widespread internal tephra layers in the ice caps, to reconstruct the surface mass balance (SMB) in the ablation zone. This method requires information about surface geometry and ice velocity, derived from remote-sensing information. In addition, the emergence angle of the tephra layer needs to be known. As a proof-of-concept, we utilize a prominent tephra layer of the Mýrdalsjökull Ice Cap to infer local SMB estimates in the ablation area back to 1988. Using tephra-layer outcrop locations across the glacier at different points in time it is possible to determine local mass changes (loss and redistribution) for a large part of the ablation zone, without the use of historic elevation models, which often are not available. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
MAYER, CHRISTOPH JAENICKE, JULIA LAMBRECHT, ASTRID BRAUN, LUDWIG VÖLKSEN, CHRISTOF MINET, CHRISTIAN MÜNZER, ULRICH |
spellingShingle |
MAYER, CHRISTOPH JAENICKE, JULIA LAMBRECHT, ASTRID BRAUN, LUDWIG VÖLKSEN, CHRISTOF MINET, CHRISTIAN MÜNZER, ULRICH Local surface mass-balance reconstruction from a tephra layer – a case study on the northern slope of Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland |
author_facet |
MAYER, CHRISTOPH JAENICKE, JULIA LAMBRECHT, ASTRID BRAUN, LUDWIG VÖLKSEN, CHRISTOF MINET, CHRISTIAN MÜNZER, ULRICH |
author_sort |
MAYER, CHRISTOPH |
title |
Local surface mass-balance reconstruction from a tephra layer – a case study on the northern slope of Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland |
title_short |
Local surface mass-balance reconstruction from a tephra layer – a case study on the northern slope of Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland |
title_full |
Local surface mass-balance reconstruction from a tephra layer – a case study on the northern slope of Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland |
title_fullStr |
Local surface mass-balance reconstruction from a tephra layer – a case study on the northern slope of Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Local surface mass-balance reconstruction from a tephra layer – a case study on the northern slope of Mýrdalsjökull, Iceland |
title_sort |
local surface mass-balance reconstruction from a tephra layer – a case study on the northern slope of mýrdalsjökull, iceland |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press (CUP) |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.119 https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0022143016001192 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-19.174,-19.174,63.643,63.643) |
geographic |
Mýrdalsjökull |
geographic_facet |
Mýrdalsjökull |
genre |
glacier Ice cap Iceland Journal of Glaciology Mýrdalsjökull |
genre_facet |
glacier Ice cap Iceland Journal of Glaciology Mýrdalsjökull |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology volume 63, issue 237, page 79-87 ISSN 0022-1430 1727-5652 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2016.119 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
63 |
container_issue |
237 |
container_start_page |
79 |
op_container_end_page |
87 |
_version_ |
1809910871123558400 |