Reconciling Svalbard Glacier Mass Balance
Since the first estimates of Svalbard-wide glacier mass balance were made in the early 2000s, there has been great progress in remote sensing and modeling of mass balance, existing field records have been extended, field records at new locations have been added, and there has been considerable envir...
Published in: | Frontiers in Earth Science |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d6211ecef511455c98e50ccc3a871583 2023-05-15T15:17:47+02:00 Reconciling Svalbard Glacier Mass Balance Thomas V. Schuler Jack Kohler Nelly Elagina Jon Ove M. Hagen Andrew J. Hodson Jacek A. Jania Andreas M. Kääb Bartłomiej Luks Jakub Małecki Geir Moholdt Veijo A. Pohjola Ireneusz Sobota Ward J. J. Van Pelt 2020-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2020.00156 https://doaj.org/article/d6211ecef511455c98e50ccc3a871583 EN eng Frontiers Media S.A. https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feart.2020.00156/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2020.00156 https://doaj.org/article/d6211ecef511455c98e50ccc3a871583 Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 8 (2020) Svalbard Arctic glaciers glacier mass balance mass balance modeling glaciological mass balance geodetic mass balance Science Q article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2020.00156 2022-12-31T13:32:47Z Since the first estimates of Svalbard-wide glacier mass balance were made in the early 2000s, there has been great progress in remote sensing and modeling of mass balance, existing field records have been extended, field records at new locations have been added, and there has been considerable environmental change. There is a wide spread in the available estimates of both total mass balance and surface or climatic mass balance, but there is overall agreement that the glaciers on Svalbard have been losing mass since the 1960s, with a tendency toward more negative mass balance since 2000. We define criteria to select data that are representative and of high credibility; this subset shows a more coherent evolution and reduced spread. In addition, we combine individual field mass balance records collected by different groups into a single dataset that samples glaciers across Svalbard and a range of different size classes. We find a close relationship between measured specific surface mass balance and size of the glacier, in such a way that smaller glaciers experience more negative surface mass balances. A qualitatively similar relationship between the accumulation area ratio and glacier area is found for all glaciers in the Svalbard, suggesting that the relation derived from glaciological records is not only an artifact caused by the limited number of samples (n = 12). We apply this relation to upscale measured surface mass balance for a new estimate for all glaciers of Svalbard. Our reconciled estimates are −7 ± 4 Gt a–1 (2000–2019) for the climatic mass balance, and −8 ± 6 Gt a–1 for the total mass balance. The difference between the two represents the sum of frontal ablation and the combined uncertainty, which together amount to ca. −2 ± 7 Gt a–1. While this is consistent with a previous estimate of Svalbard-wide frontal ablation, the uncertainties are large. Furthermore, several large and long-lasting surges have had considerable and multi-year impact on the total mass balance, and in particular on calving ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic glacier Svalbard Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Svalbard Frontiers in Earth Science 8 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Svalbard Arctic glaciers glacier mass balance mass balance modeling glaciological mass balance geodetic mass balance Science Q |
spellingShingle |
Svalbard Arctic glaciers glacier mass balance mass balance modeling glaciological mass balance geodetic mass balance Science Q Thomas V. Schuler Jack Kohler Nelly Elagina Jon Ove M. Hagen Andrew J. Hodson Jacek A. Jania Andreas M. Kääb Bartłomiej Luks Jakub Małecki Geir Moholdt Veijo A. Pohjola Ireneusz Sobota Ward J. J. Van Pelt Reconciling Svalbard Glacier Mass Balance |
topic_facet |
Svalbard Arctic glaciers glacier mass balance mass balance modeling glaciological mass balance geodetic mass balance Science Q |
description |
Since the first estimates of Svalbard-wide glacier mass balance were made in the early 2000s, there has been great progress in remote sensing and modeling of mass balance, existing field records have been extended, field records at new locations have been added, and there has been considerable environmental change. There is a wide spread in the available estimates of both total mass balance and surface or climatic mass balance, but there is overall agreement that the glaciers on Svalbard have been losing mass since the 1960s, with a tendency toward more negative mass balance since 2000. We define criteria to select data that are representative and of high credibility; this subset shows a more coherent evolution and reduced spread. In addition, we combine individual field mass balance records collected by different groups into a single dataset that samples glaciers across Svalbard and a range of different size classes. We find a close relationship between measured specific surface mass balance and size of the glacier, in such a way that smaller glaciers experience more negative surface mass balances. A qualitatively similar relationship between the accumulation area ratio and glacier area is found for all glaciers in the Svalbard, suggesting that the relation derived from glaciological records is not only an artifact caused by the limited number of samples (n = 12). We apply this relation to upscale measured surface mass balance for a new estimate for all glaciers of Svalbard. Our reconciled estimates are −7 ± 4 Gt a–1 (2000–2019) for the climatic mass balance, and −8 ± 6 Gt a–1 for the total mass balance. The difference between the two represents the sum of frontal ablation and the combined uncertainty, which together amount to ca. −2 ± 7 Gt a–1. While this is consistent with a previous estimate of Svalbard-wide frontal ablation, the uncertainties are large. Furthermore, several large and long-lasting surges have had considerable and multi-year impact on the total mass balance, and in particular on calving ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Thomas V. Schuler Jack Kohler Nelly Elagina Jon Ove M. Hagen Andrew J. Hodson Jacek A. Jania Andreas M. Kääb Bartłomiej Luks Jakub Małecki Geir Moholdt Veijo A. Pohjola Ireneusz Sobota Ward J. J. Van Pelt |
author_facet |
Thomas V. Schuler Jack Kohler Nelly Elagina Jon Ove M. Hagen Andrew J. Hodson Jacek A. Jania Andreas M. Kääb Bartłomiej Luks Jakub Małecki Geir Moholdt Veijo A. Pohjola Ireneusz Sobota Ward J. J. Van Pelt |
author_sort |
Thomas V. Schuler |
title |
Reconciling Svalbard Glacier Mass Balance |
title_short |
Reconciling Svalbard Glacier Mass Balance |
title_full |
Reconciling Svalbard Glacier Mass Balance |
title_fullStr |
Reconciling Svalbard Glacier Mass Balance |
title_full_unstemmed |
Reconciling Svalbard Glacier Mass Balance |
title_sort |
reconciling svalbard glacier mass balance |
publisher |
Frontiers Media S.A. |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2020.00156 https://doaj.org/article/d6211ecef511455c98e50ccc3a871583 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic glacier Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic glacier Svalbard |
op_source |
Frontiers in Earth Science, Vol 8 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feart.2020.00156/full https://doaj.org/toc/2296-6463 2296-6463 doi:10.3389/feart.2020.00156 https://doaj.org/article/d6211ecef511455c98e50ccc3a871583 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2020.00156 |
container_title |
Frontiers in Earth Science |
container_volume |
8 |
_version_ |
1766348022970580992 |