RECENT GLACIER ADVANCES IN NORWAY AND NEW ZEALAND: A COMPARISON OF THEIR GLACIOLOGICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL CAUSES BY

• Main Authors: Geografiska Annaler A, T. Chinn, S. Winkler, M. J. Salinger, N. Haakensen
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Key words; glaciers; mass balance; advance; NAO; IPO; ENSO/ SOI; New Zealand; Norway; Pacific; Posi; Soi; Tive; glacier; North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.510.2921; http://meteo.lcd.lu/globalwarming/Winkler/Chinnetal-1.pdf

ison of their glaciological and meteorological causes. Geogr. Ann., 87 A (1): 141–157. ABSTRACT. Norway and New Zealand both experi-enced recent glacial advances, commencing in the early 1980s and ceasing around 2000, which were more extensive than any other since the end of the Little Ice Age. Common to both countries, the posi-tive glacier balances are associated with an increase in the strength of westerly atmospheric circulation which brought increased precipitation. In Norway, the changes are also associated with lower ablation season temperatures. In New Zealand, where the positive balances were distributed uniformly throughout the Southern Alps, the period of in-creased mass balance was coincident with a change in the Interdecadal Pacific Oscillation and an asso-ciated increase in El Niño/Southern Oscillation events. In Norway, the positive balances occurred across a strong west–east gradient with no balance increases to the continental glaciers of Scandinavia. The Norwegian advances are linked to strongly pos-itive North Atlantic Oscillation events which caused an overall increase of precipitation in the winter ac-cumulation season and a general shift of maximum precipitation from autumn towards winter. These cases both show the influence of atmospheric circu-lation on maritime glaciers.