Modern glacimarine processes and potential future behaviour of Kronebreen and Kongsvegen polythermal tidewater glaciers, Kongsfjorden, Svalbard, 2010

• Main Authors: Luke D. Trusel, Ross D. Powell, R. M. Cumpston, Julie Brigham-Grette
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Arctic Data Center 2013
• Subjects: EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > EROSION/SEDIMENTATION > SEDIMENTS; EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN TEMPERATURE > WATER TEMPERATURE; EARTH SCIENCE > TERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE > GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS > GLACIER MASS BALANCE/ICE SHEET MASS BALANCE; EARTH SCIENCE > PALEOCLIMATE > OCEAN/LAKE RECORDS > LAKE LEVELS; EARTH SCIENCE > PALEOCLIMATE > LAND RECORDS > SEDIMENTS; EARTH SCIENCE > PALEOCLIMATE > OCEAN/LAKE RECORDS > SEDIMENTS; EARTH SCIENCE > PALEOCLIMATE > OCEAN/LAKE RECORDS > VARVE DEPOSITS; EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > EROSION/SEDIMENTATION > DEGRADATION; EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > EROSION/SEDIMENTATION > SEDIMENT TRANSPORT; EARTH SCIENCE > CRYOSPHERE > GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS > GLACIER MASS BALANCE/ICE SHEET MASS BALANCE; EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > MARINE SEDIMENTS > SEDIMENT TRANSPORT; EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > MARINE SEDIMENTS > TURBIDITY; EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > LAND TEMPERATURE > LAND SURFACE TEMPERATURE; EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > EROSION/SEDIMENTATION > ENTRAINMENT; EARTH SCIENCE > TERRESTRIAL HYDROSPHERE > GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS > GLACIERS; EARTH SCIENCE > CRYOSPHERE > GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS > GLACIERS; EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > EROSION/SEDIMENTATION > SEDIMENTATION; EARTH SCIENCE > CRYOSPHERE > FROZEN GROUND > SOIL TEMPERATURE; EARTH SCIENCE > CRYOSPHERE > FROZEN GROUND > PERIGLACIAL PROCESSES; EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > EROSION/SEDIMENTATION > SUSPENDED SOLIDS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS > SAMPLERS > GRABBERS/TRAPS/COLLECTORS > SEDIMENT TRAPS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS > CORERS > SEDIMENT CORERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS > CONDUCTIVITY SENSORS > CONDUCTIVITY METERS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS > PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING > PHOTON/OPTICAL DETECTORS > CAMERAS > CAMERAS; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS > PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING > PROFILERS/SOUNDERS > TEMPERATURE PROFILERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS > RECORDERS/LOGGERS > TEMPERATURE LOGGERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS > GAUGES > STREAM GAUGES; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS > PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING > POSITIONING/NAVIGATION > GPS > GPS > GLOBAL POSITIONING SYSTEM; EARTH REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS > ACTIVE REMOTE SENSING > PROFILERS/SOUNDERS > ACOUSTIC SOUNDERS > ECHO SOUNDERS; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS > PROBES > PROBES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS > CORERS > CORING DEVICES; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS > PROBES > STEEL MEASURING TAPE; IN SITU/LABORATORY INSTRUMENTS > CURRENT/WIND METERS > CURRENT METERS; MANNED FIELD STATION; HOURLY TO DAILY; DAILY TO WEEKLY; ANNUAL; 1 MINUTE TO 1 HOUR; MONTHLY TO ANNUAL; WEEKLY TO MONTHLY; inlandWaters; oceans; environment; climatologyMeteorologyAtmosphere; Arctic; Svalbard; Norway; Jan Mayen; Brigham; Kronebreen; Kongsvegen; Reu; Antarc*; Antarctica; Climate change; glacier; glaciers; Ice Sheet; Iceberg*; Kongsfjord*; Kongsfjorden; Magnetic susceptibility; North Atlantic; Tidewater; Alaska; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.18739/A2736M17X

Kronebreen is a fast flowing, but actively retreating, tidewater glacier that terminates at the head of Kongsfjorden in Western Spitsbergen, Svalbard, Norway. Currently, one main subglacial meltwater conduit marked by a terminus embayment forcefully releases fresh water into the fjord. Basal meltwater and debris, evident from very high suspended sediment concentrations of up to 0.22 g L-1 (mean conc. at ≥ 10m depth = 0.1 g L-1) rapidly exit the glacier, forming a density-controlled turbid upwelling from the grounding line at about 60 m depth. Sediment, as coarse as fine sand, is actively transported to the fjord surface and then quickly falls out of suspension. Silt and clay, however, spread laterally above the pycnocline at 10-12 m depth and are transported down-fjord. At about 240 m from the ice cliff and near the meltwater upwelling, the minimum measured sediment mass accumulation rate is 39.62 ± 0.01 g cm-2 a-1 (0.66 g cm-2 d-1; 5.0 mm d-1 vertical dry accumulation rate), and the rate decreases with distance from the ice cliff. Gravity cores taken at distances 630 m and 970 m from the calving margin indicate turbidity current activity beyond the modern morainal bank and adjacent subaqueous grounding-line fan. The base of each turbidite is marked by an increase in mean grain size coincident with an increased magnetic susceptibility. Mapping of the ice margin in 2005 indicates a slowing ice margin retreat rate (21 m a-1 between 1990 and 2005) in comparison with recent decades. This slowing trend may indicate increased overall ice flow rate or the possibility of the glacier beginning to pull out of the fjord. Our field work was conducted in July 2005 as part of the Svalbard REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program funded by the US National Science Foundation. The research is aimed at using glacimarine sedimentation as a proxy for modern climate change. Additionally, because of polar amplification in the climate system, studies of regional change expressed in glacial processes throughout the Arctic region are of interest for understanding the heterogeneous impacts of contemporary change. Field methods included use of suspended sediment traps, CTD/OBS instrumentation, water sampling, gravity and box coring, sub-bottom profiling, and iceberg sampling. Our sediment traps measured the highest sedimentation rates recorded in the fjord, but comparison between our measurements and previous studies is problematic for various reasons. However, measured sedimentation rates confirm these glaciers lie on a climatological spectrum between fully cold-based glaciers of Antarctica and warm-based glaciers of Alaska today. For published version, see Trusel, L.D., Powell, R.D., Cumpston, R.M., and Brigham-Grette, J., 2010, Modern glacimarine processes and potential future behaviour of Kronebreen and Kongsvegen polythermal tidewater glaciers, Kongsfjorden, Svalbard: Geological Society, London, Special Publications, v. 344, p. 89–102, doi: 10.1144/SP344.9.