Spitsbergen Landscape under 20th Century Climate Change: Sørkapp Land

• Published in: AMBIO: A Journal of the Human Environment
• Main Author: Wieslaw Ziaja
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences 2004
• Subjects: Arctic; Sørkapp Land; Climate change; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1579/0044-7447-33.6.295

A reaction of the European Arctic landscape to a climate change on the scale of a typical middle-sized region is outlined. A wide scope of the methods was used, first of all field mapping and observations. Glaciers are important in the Sørkapp Land landscape because they cover the majority of its territory and undergo quick recessions as a result of the 20th century warming. Glacial recession influence intensively: relief with Quaternary deposits, waters, animals, vegetation and soils. The most important landscape changes in the 20th century are: uplift of the equilibrium line altitude on glaciers by 100–200 m; large glacial recession in both surface and volume; significant decrease of the land area due to recession of tidewater glaciers; lengthening of the coastline, and especially of glacial cliffs; development of the land water network; start of the plant succession in areas abandoned by glaciers. No isostatic uplift has taken place in Sørkapp Land since the Little Ice Age.