Contribution of Environment Factors to the Temperature Distribution According to Different Resolution Levels; Test on the Forefield of the Loven Glaciers (Svalbard)

• Main Authors: Joly Daniel, Brossard T. Théma, Université De Franche-comté
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Svalbard
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.121.4121; http://alaska.usgs.gov/geography/conference/abstracts/joly_brossard_abstract.pdf

The temperature distribution is controlled by numerous factors related to topography (such as altitude, gradient, slope facing, landforms) and land cover (such as vegetation, bare ground, water). Additional elements worth to be considered like distance to significant objects like sea, crest lines or glaciers. The influence of these environment features on temperature distribution can be effective according to different scale-ranges as it is the case when comparing, for instance, the effects of two water bodies: the effect of a small lake is only local whereas the oceanic influence is still sensible far from the coast line, beyond several hundred miles. Thus, we see that the key point for solving the problem is to establish, factor by factor, the scale level for which its contribution to temperature variation is the highest before integrating, in a further step, these segmented results in a global model of temperature distribution. In order to carry out this protocol, we choosed an experimental site, located at the front of two glaciers in Svalbard, so called Loven East and Loven Middre (79°N). This place offers appropriate characteristics for such an experiment: (i) the environment conditions are very contrasted in term of topography, vegetation cover and soil