Frontal destabilization of Stonebreen, Edgeøya, Svalbard
In consideration of the strong atmospheric warming that has been observed since the 1990s in polar regions there is a need to quantify mass loss of Arctic ice caps and glaciers and their contribution to sea level rise. In polar regions a large part of glacier ablation is through calving of tidewater...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:be23a2d9c085410e98cceda571b851d3 2023-05-15T15:09:17+02:00 Frontal destabilization of Stonebreen, Edgeøya, Svalbard T. Strozzi A. Kääb T. Schellenberger 2017-02-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-553-2017 https://doaj.org/article/be23a2d9c085410e98cceda571b851d3 EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/553/2017/tc-11-553-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-11-553-2017 https://doaj.org/article/be23a2d9c085410e98cceda571b851d3 The Cryosphere, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 553-566 (2017) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2017 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-553-2017 2022-12-31T10:31:36Z In consideration of the strong atmospheric warming that has been observed since the 1990s in polar regions there is a need to quantify mass loss of Arctic ice caps and glaciers and their contribution to sea level rise. In polar regions a large part of glacier ablation is through calving of tidewater glaciers driven by ice velocities and their variations. The Svalbard region is characterized by glaciers with rapid dynamic fluctuations of different types, including irreversible adjustments of calving fronts to a changing mass balance and reversible, surge-type activities. For large areas, however, we do not have much past and current information on glacier dynamic fluctuations. Recently, through frequent monitoring based on repeat optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite data, a number of zones of velocity increases have been observed at formerly slow-flowing calving fronts on Svalbard. Here we present the dynamic evolution of the southern lobe of Stonebreen on Edgeøya. We observe a slowly steady retreat of the glacier front from 1971 until 2011, followed by a strong increase in ice surface velocity along with a decrease of volume and frontal extension since 2012. The considerable losses in ice thickness could have made the tide-water calving glacier, which is grounded below sea level some 6 km inland from the 2014 front, more sensitive to surface meltwater reaching its bed and/or warm ocean water increasing frontal ablation with subsequent strong multi-annual ice-flow acceleration. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Edgeøya glacier Svalbard The Cryosphere Tidewater Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Edgeøya ENVELOPE(22.500,22.500,77.750,77.750) Stonebreen ENVELOPE(23.960,23.960,77.724,77.724) Svalbard The Cryosphere 11 1 553 566 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 T. Strozzi A. Kääb T. Schellenberger Frontal destabilization of Stonebreen, Edgeøya, Svalbard |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
In consideration of the strong atmospheric warming that has been observed since the 1990s in polar regions there is a need to quantify mass loss of Arctic ice caps and glaciers and their contribution to sea level rise. In polar regions a large part of glacier ablation is through calving of tidewater glaciers driven by ice velocities and their variations. The Svalbard region is characterized by glaciers with rapid dynamic fluctuations of different types, including irreversible adjustments of calving fronts to a changing mass balance and reversible, surge-type activities. For large areas, however, we do not have much past and current information on glacier dynamic fluctuations. Recently, through frequent monitoring based on repeat optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite data, a number of zones of velocity increases have been observed at formerly slow-flowing calving fronts on Svalbard. Here we present the dynamic evolution of the southern lobe of Stonebreen on Edgeøya. We observe a slowly steady retreat of the glacier front from 1971 until 2011, followed by a strong increase in ice surface velocity along with a decrease of volume and frontal extension since 2012. The considerable losses in ice thickness could have made the tide-water calving glacier, which is grounded below sea level some 6 km inland from the 2014 front, more sensitive to surface meltwater reaching its bed and/or warm ocean water increasing frontal ablation with subsequent strong multi-annual ice-flow acceleration. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
T. Strozzi A. Kääb T. Schellenberger |
author_facet |
T. Strozzi A. Kääb T. Schellenberger |
author_sort |
T. Strozzi |
title |
Frontal destabilization of Stonebreen, Edgeøya, Svalbard |
title_short |
Frontal destabilization of Stonebreen, Edgeøya, Svalbard |
title_full |
Frontal destabilization of Stonebreen, Edgeøya, Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Frontal destabilization of Stonebreen, Edgeøya, Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Frontal destabilization of Stonebreen, Edgeøya, Svalbard |
title_sort |
frontal destabilization of stonebreen, edgeøya, svalbard |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2017 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-553-2017 https://doaj.org/article/be23a2d9c085410e98cceda571b851d3 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(22.500,22.500,77.750,77.750) ENVELOPE(23.960,23.960,77.724,77.724) |
geographic |
Arctic Edgeøya Stonebreen Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Edgeøya Stonebreen Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Edgeøya glacier Svalbard The Cryosphere Tidewater |
genre_facet |
Arctic Edgeøya glacier Svalbard The Cryosphere Tidewater |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 553-566 (2017) |
op_relation |
http://www.the-cryosphere.net/11/553/2017/tc-11-553-2017.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 1994-0416 1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-11-553-2017 https://doaj.org/article/be23a2d9c085410e98cceda571b851d3 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-553-2017 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
553 |
op_container_end_page |
566 |
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1766340504313659392 |