On the glaciology of Edgeøya and Barentsøya, Svalbard

The ice masses on Edgeøya and Barentsøya are the least well known in Svalbard. The islands are 42-47% ice covered with the largest ice cap, Edgeøyjøkulen, 1365 km2 in area. The tidewater ice cliffs of eastern Edgeøya are over 80 km long and produce small tabular icebergs. Several of the ice-cap outl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Polar Research
Main Authors: Dowdeswell, Julian A., Bamber, Jonathan L.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 1995
Subjects:
Online Access:https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/1942
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v14i2.6658
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Summary:The ice masses on Edgeøya and Barentsøya are the least well known in Svalbard. The islands are 42-47% ice covered with the largest ice cap, Edgeøyjøkulen, 1365 km2 in area. The tidewater ice cliffs of eastern Edgeøya are over 80 km long and produce small tabular icebergs. Several of the ice-cap outlet glaciers on Edgeøya and Barentsøya are known to surge, and different drainage basins within the ice caps behave as dynamically separate units. Terminus advances during surging have punctuated more general retreat from Little Ice Age moraines, probably linked to Twentieth Ceutury climate warming and mass balance change. Airborne radio-echo sounding at 60 MHz along 340 km of flight track over the ice masses of Edgeøya and Barentsøya has provided ice thickness and elevation data. Ice is grounded below sea level to about 20 km inland from the tidewater terminus of Stonebreen. Ice thickens from