A long-term dataset of climatic mass balance, snow conditions, and runoff in Svalbard (1957-2018)
The climate in Svalbard is undergoing amplified change compared to the global mean. This has major implications for runoff from glaciers and seasonal snow on land. We use a coupled energy balance–subsurface model, forced with downscaled regional climate model fields, and apply it to both glacier-cov...
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Copernicus Publications
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Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2639091 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2259-2019 |
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fthsvestlandet:oai:hvlopen.brage.unit.no:11250/2639091 2024-03-03T08:44:39+00:00 A long-term dataset of climatic mass balance, snow conditions, and runoff in Svalbard (1957-2018) Van Pelt, Ward Pohjola, Veijo Pettersson, Rickard Marchenko, Sergey A. Kohler, Jack Luks, Bartlomiej Hagen, Jon Ove Methlie Schuler, Thomas Dunse, Thorben Noel, Brice Reijmer, Carleen Svalbard 2019 application/pdf http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2639091 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2259-2019 eng eng Copernicus Publications van Pelt, W., Pohjola, V., Pettersson, R., Marchenko, S., Kohler, J., Luks, B., . . . Reijmer, C. (2019). A long-term dataset of climatic mass balance, snow conditions, and runoff in Svalbard (1957–2018). The Cryosphere, 13(9), 2259-2280. urn:issn:1994-0416 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2639091 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2259-2019 cristin:1769695 Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no © Author(s) 2019. 2259-2280 13 The Cryosphere 9 Journal article Peer reviewed 2019 fthsvestlandet https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2259-2019 2024-02-02T12:41:00Z The climate in Svalbard is undergoing amplified change compared to the global mean. This has major implications for runoff from glaciers and seasonal snow on land. We use a coupled energy balance–subsurface model, forced with downscaled regional climate model fields, and apply it to both glacier-covered and land areas in Svalbard. This generates a long-term (1957–2018) distributed dataset of climatic mass balance (CMB) for the glaciers, snow conditions, and runoff with a 1 km×1 km spatial and 3-hourly temporal resolution. Observational data including stake measurements, automatic weather station data, and subsurface data across Svalbard are used for model calibration and validation. We find a weakly positive mean net CMB (+0.09 m w.e. a−1) over the simulation period, which only fractionally compensates for mass loss through calving. Pronounced warming and a small precipitation increase lead to a spatial-mean negative net CMB trend (−0.06 m w.e. a−1 decade−1), and an increase in the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) by 17 m decade−1, with the largest changes in southern and central Svalbard. The retreating ELA in turn causes firn air volume to decrease by 4 % decade−1, which in combination with winter warming induces a substantial reduction of refreezing in both glacier-covered and land areas (average −4 % decade−1). A combination of increased melt and reduced refreezing causes glacier runoff (average 34.3 Gt a−1) to double over the simulation period, while discharge from land (average 10.6 Gt a−1) remains nearly unchanged. As a result, the relative contribution of land runoff to total runoff drops from 30 % to 20 % during 1957–2018. Seasonal snow on land and in glacier ablation zones is found to arrive later in autumn (+1.4 d decade−1), while no significant changes occurred on the date of snow disappearance in spring–summer. Altogether, the output of the simulation provides an extensive dataset that may be of use in a wide range of applications ranging from runoff modelling to ecosystem studies. publishedVersion Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Svalbard The Cryosphere Høgskulen på Vestlandet: HVL Open Svalbard Ela ENVELOPE(9.642,9.642,63.170,63.170) The Cryosphere 13 9 2259 2280 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Høgskulen på Vestlandet: HVL Open |
op_collection_id |
fthsvestlandet |
language |
English |
description |
The climate in Svalbard is undergoing amplified change compared to the global mean. This has major implications for runoff from glaciers and seasonal snow on land. We use a coupled energy balance–subsurface model, forced with downscaled regional climate model fields, and apply it to both glacier-covered and land areas in Svalbard. This generates a long-term (1957–2018) distributed dataset of climatic mass balance (CMB) for the glaciers, snow conditions, and runoff with a 1 km×1 km spatial and 3-hourly temporal resolution. Observational data including stake measurements, automatic weather station data, and subsurface data across Svalbard are used for model calibration and validation. We find a weakly positive mean net CMB (+0.09 m w.e. a−1) over the simulation period, which only fractionally compensates for mass loss through calving. Pronounced warming and a small precipitation increase lead to a spatial-mean negative net CMB trend (−0.06 m w.e. a−1 decade−1), and an increase in the equilibrium line altitude (ELA) by 17 m decade−1, with the largest changes in southern and central Svalbard. The retreating ELA in turn causes firn air volume to decrease by 4 % decade−1, which in combination with winter warming induces a substantial reduction of refreezing in both glacier-covered and land areas (average −4 % decade−1). A combination of increased melt and reduced refreezing causes glacier runoff (average 34.3 Gt a−1) to double over the simulation period, while discharge from land (average 10.6 Gt a−1) remains nearly unchanged. As a result, the relative contribution of land runoff to total runoff drops from 30 % to 20 % during 1957–2018. Seasonal snow on land and in glacier ablation zones is found to arrive later in autumn (+1.4 d decade−1), while no significant changes occurred on the date of snow disappearance in spring–summer. Altogether, the output of the simulation provides an extensive dataset that may be of use in a wide range of applications ranging from runoff modelling to ecosystem studies. publishedVersion |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Van Pelt, Ward Pohjola, Veijo Pettersson, Rickard Marchenko, Sergey A. Kohler, Jack Luks, Bartlomiej Hagen, Jon Ove Methlie Schuler, Thomas Dunse, Thorben Noel, Brice Reijmer, Carleen |
spellingShingle |
Van Pelt, Ward Pohjola, Veijo Pettersson, Rickard Marchenko, Sergey A. Kohler, Jack Luks, Bartlomiej Hagen, Jon Ove Methlie Schuler, Thomas Dunse, Thorben Noel, Brice Reijmer, Carleen A long-term dataset of climatic mass balance, snow conditions, and runoff in Svalbard (1957-2018) |
author_facet |
Van Pelt, Ward Pohjola, Veijo Pettersson, Rickard Marchenko, Sergey A. Kohler, Jack Luks, Bartlomiej Hagen, Jon Ove Methlie Schuler, Thomas Dunse, Thorben Noel, Brice Reijmer, Carleen |
author_sort |
Van Pelt, Ward |
title |
A long-term dataset of climatic mass balance, snow conditions, and runoff in Svalbard (1957-2018) |
title_short |
A long-term dataset of climatic mass balance, snow conditions, and runoff in Svalbard (1957-2018) |
title_full |
A long-term dataset of climatic mass balance, snow conditions, and runoff in Svalbard (1957-2018) |
title_fullStr |
A long-term dataset of climatic mass balance, snow conditions, and runoff in Svalbard (1957-2018) |
title_full_unstemmed |
A long-term dataset of climatic mass balance, snow conditions, and runoff in Svalbard (1957-2018) |
title_sort |
long-term dataset of climatic mass balance, snow conditions, and runoff in svalbard (1957-2018) |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2019 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2639091 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2259-2019 |
op_coverage |
Svalbard |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(9.642,9.642,63.170,63.170) |
geographic |
Svalbard Ela |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard Ela |
genre |
glacier Svalbard The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
glacier Svalbard The Cryosphere |
op_source |
2259-2280 13 The Cryosphere 9 |
op_relation |
van Pelt, W., Pohjola, V., Pettersson, R., Marchenko, S., Kohler, J., Luks, B., . . . Reijmer, C. (2019). A long-term dataset of climatic mass balance, snow conditions, and runoff in Svalbard (1957–2018). The Cryosphere, 13(9), 2259-2280. urn:issn:1994-0416 http://hdl.handle.net/11250/2639091 https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2259-2019 cristin:1769695 |
op_rights |
Navngivelse 4.0 Internasjonal http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.no © Author(s) 2019. |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-13-2259-2019 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
container_volume |
13 |
container_issue |
9 |
container_start_page |
2259 |
op_container_end_page |
2280 |
_version_ |
1792500141701201920 |