Inverse solution of surface mass balance of Midtre Lovénbreen, Svalbard

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: ILONA VÄLISUO, THOMAS ZWINGER, JACK KOHLER
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press 2017
• Subjects: Arctic glaciology; glacier mass balance; glacier modelling; glaciological model experiments; surface mass budget; Environmental sciences; GE1-350; Meteorology. Climatology; QC851-999; Arctic; Svalbard; glacier; Journal of Glaciology
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2017.26; https://doaj.org/article/1813d048be8d407697c52249b46568b2

We investigate the temporal evolution and spatial distribution of mass balance on the glacier Midtre Lovénbreen, Svalbard. Running a diagnostic high-resolution full-stress ice flow model with geometries obtained from five digital elevation models (DEMs) in the period 1962–2005, we compute velocity fields and linearly interpolated volume change of the glacier. We evaluate the kinematic free surface equation using these model outputs to solve the surface mass balance (SMB). Monitoring data on Midtre Lovénbreen allows model results to be compared with point measurements from the glacier over several decades. This method allows us to estimate the mass balance over the entire glacier surface, beyond the spatially limited field measurements, and to derive past SMB over an extended time period.