Glacier fluctuations of Jostedalsbreen, western Norway, during the past 20 years: the sensitive response of maritime mountain glaciers
The steep outlet glaciers of Jostedalsbreen, western Norway, are good examples of sensitively reacting maritime mountain glaciers. Their changes in length, frontal position and lower tongue's morphology during the past 20 years have been well documented. At first they experienced a strong front...
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crsagepubl:10.1177/0959683608101390 2024-09-15T18:07:51+00:00 Glacier fluctuations of Jostedalsbreen, western Norway, during the past 20 years: the sensitive response of maritime mountain glaciers Winkler, Stefan Elvehøy, Hallgeir Nesje, Atle 2009 http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683608101390 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683608101390 en eng SAGE Publications http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license The Holocene volume 19, issue 3, page 395-414 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 journal-article 2009 crsagepubl https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683608101390 2024-08-19T04:29:09Z The steep outlet glaciers of Jostedalsbreen, western Norway, are good examples of sensitively reacting maritime mountain glaciers. Their changes in length, frontal position and lower tongue's morphology during the past 20 years have been well documented. At first they experienced a strong frontal advance. After AD 2000 glacier behaviour was dominated by a strong frontal retreat, in some cases causing a separation of the lowermost glacier tongue. In this paper, the glacier length changes are presented both visually and numerically, supplemented by mass balance and meteorological data. The glacier behaviour is interpreted and its causes are discussed. Whereas the factors controlling the advance during the 1990s seem clear, the interpretation of the most recent retreat still leaves some uncertainties. The actual glacier front behaviour cannot fully be related to the mass balance data. Terminus response times and relations between individual mass balance and meteorological parameters have changed. Some hypotheses are given, including disturbance of the `normal' mass transfer and dynamical response of the glacier front because of excessive ablation on the lowermost glacier tongues and summer back melting. These findings underline the sensitivity of maritime glaciers to climate changes. The empirical findings need to be taken into account in the interpretation of recent glacier length changes and their future modelling. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier SAGE Publications The Holocene 19 3 395 414 |
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Open Polar |
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SAGE Publications |
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English |
description |
The steep outlet glaciers of Jostedalsbreen, western Norway, are good examples of sensitively reacting maritime mountain glaciers. Their changes in length, frontal position and lower tongue's morphology during the past 20 years have been well documented. At first they experienced a strong frontal advance. After AD 2000 glacier behaviour was dominated by a strong frontal retreat, in some cases causing a separation of the lowermost glacier tongue. In this paper, the glacier length changes are presented both visually and numerically, supplemented by mass balance and meteorological data. The glacier behaviour is interpreted and its causes are discussed. Whereas the factors controlling the advance during the 1990s seem clear, the interpretation of the most recent retreat still leaves some uncertainties. The actual glacier front behaviour cannot fully be related to the mass balance data. Terminus response times and relations between individual mass balance and meteorological parameters have changed. Some hypotheses are given, including disturbance of the `normal' mass transfer and dynamical response of the glacier front because of excessive ablation on the lowermost glacier tongues and summer back melting. These findings underline the sensitivity of maritime glaciers to climate changes. The empirical findings need to be taken into account in the interpretation of recent glacier length changes and their future modelling. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Winkler, Stefan Elvehøy, Hallgeir Nesje, Atle |
spellingShingle |
Winkler, Stefan Elvehøy, Hallgeir Nesje, Atle Glacier fluctuations of Jostedalsbreen, western Norway, during the past 20 years: the sensitive response of maritime mountain glaciers |
author_facet |
Winkler, Stefan Elvehøy, Hallgeir Nesje, Atle |
author_sort |
Winkler, Stefan |
title |
Glacier fluctuations of Jostedalsbreen, western Norway, during the past 20 years: the sensitive response of maritime mountain glaciers |
title_short |
Glacier fluctuations of Jostedalsbreen, western Norway, during the past 20 years: the sensitive response of maritime mountain glaciers |
title_full |
Glacier fluctuations of Jostedalsbreen, western Norway, during the past 20 years: the sensitive response of maritime mountain glaciers |
title_fullStr |
Glacier fluctuations of Jostedalsbreen, western Norway, during the past 20 years: the sensitive response of maritime mountain glaciers |
title_full_unstemmed |
Glacier fluctuations of Jostedalsbreen, western Norway, during the past 20 years: the sensitive response of maritime mountain glaciers |
title_sort |
glacier fluctuations of jostedalsbreen, western norway, during the past 20 years: the sensitive response of maritime mountain glaciers |
publisher |
SAGE Publications |
publishDate |
2009 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0959683608101390 http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0959683608101390 |
genre |
glacier |
genre_facet |
glacier |
op_source |
The Holocene volume 19, issue 3, page 395-414 ISSN 0959-6836 1477-0911 |
op_rights |
http://journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1177/0959683608101390 |
container_title |
The Holocene |
container_volume |
19 |
container_issue |
3 |
container_start_page |
395 |
op_container_end_page |
414 |
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1810445213597958144 |