Glaciers in Svalbard: mass balance, runoff and freshwater flux
Gain or loss of the freshwater stored in Svalbard glaciers has both global implications for sea level and, on a more local scale, impacts upon the hydrology of rivers and the freshwater flux to fjords. This paper gives an overview of the potential runoff from the Svalbard glaciers. The freshwater fl...
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Norwegian Polar Institute
2003
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ftjpolarres:oai:journals.openacademia.net:article/2105 2023-05-15T16:22:10+02:00 Glaciers in Svalbard: mass balance, runoff and freshwater flux Hagen, Jon Ove Kohler, Jack Melvold, Kjetil Winther, Jan-Gunnar 2003-01-12 application/pdf https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2105 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v22i2.6452 eng eng Norwegian Polar Institute https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2105/5356 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2105 doi:10.3402/polar.v22i2.6452 Copyright (c) 2018 Polar Research Polar Research; Vol. 22 No. 2 (2003); 145-159 1751-8369 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2003 ftjpolarres https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v22i2.6452 2021-11-11T19:11:56Z Gain or loss of the freshwater stored in Svalbard glaciers has both global implications for sea level and, on a more local scale, impacts upon the hydrology of rivers and the freshwater flux to fjords. This paper gives an overview of the potential runoff from the Svalbard glaciers. The freshwater flux from basins of different scales is quantified. In small basins (A < 10 km2), the extra runoff due to the negative mass balance of the glaciers is related to the proportion of glacier cover and can at present yield more than 20% higher runoff than if the glaciers were in equilibrium with the present climate. This does not apply generally to the ice masses of Svalbard, which are mostly much closer to being in balance. The total surface runoff from Svalbard glaciers due to melting of snow and ice is roughly 25 ± 5 km3 a?1, which corresponds to a specific runoff of 680 ± 140 mm a?1, only slightly more than the annual snow accumulation. Calving of icebergs from Svalbard glaciers currently contributes significantly to the freshwater flux and is estimated to be 4 ± 1 km3 a?1 or about 110 mm a?1. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier Polar Research Svalbard Polar Research (E-Journal) Svalbard Polar Research 22 2 145 159 |
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Open Polar |
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Polar Research (E-Journal) |
op_collection_id |
ftjpolarres |
language |
English |
description |
Gain or loss of the freshwater stored in Svalbard glaciers has both global implications for sea level and, on a more local scale, impacts upon the hydrology of rivers and the freshwater flux to fjords. This paper gives an overview of the potential runoff from the Svalbard glaciers. The freshwater flux from basins of different scales is quantified. In small basins (A < 10 km2), the extra runoff due to the negative mass balance of the glaciers is related to the proportion of glacier cover and can at present yield more than 20% higher runoff than if the glaciers were in equilibrium with the present climate. This does not apply generally to the ice masses of Svalbard, which are mostly much closer to being in balance. The total surface runoff from Svalbard glaciers due to melting of snow and ice is roughly 25 ± 5 km3 a?1, which corresponds to a specific runoff of 680 ± 140 mm a?1, only slightly more than the annual snow accumulation. Calving of icebergs from Svalbard glaciers currently contributes significantly to the freshwater flux and is estimated to be 4 ± 1 km3 a?1 or about 110 mm a?1. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Hagen, Jon Ove Kohler, Jack Melvold, Kjetil Winther, Jan-Gunnar |
spellingShingle |
Hagen, Jon Ove Kohler, Jack Melvold, Kjetil Winther, Jan-Gunnar Glaciers in Svalbard: mass balance, runoff and freshwater flux |
author_facet |
Hagen, Jon Ove Kohler, Jack Melvold, Kjetil Winther, Jan-Gunnar |
author_sort |
Hagen, Jon Ove |
title |
Glaciers in Svalbard: mass balance, runoff and freshwater flux |
title_short |
Glaciers in Svalbard: mass balance, runoff and freshwater flux |
title_full |
Glaciers in Svalbard: mass balance, runoff and freshwater flux |
title_fullStr |
Glaciers in Svalbard: mass balance, runoff and freshwater flux |
title_full_unstemmed |
Glaciers in Svalbard: mass balance, runoff and freshwater flux |
title_sort |
glaciers in svalbard: mass balance, runoff and freshwater flux |
publisher |
Norwegian Polar Institute |
publishDate |
2003 |
url |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2105 https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v22i2.6452 |
geographic |
Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard |
genre |
glacier Polar Research Svalbard |
genre_facet |
glacier Polar Research Svalbard |
op_source |
Polar Research; Vol. 22 No. 2 (2003); 145-159 1751-8369 |
op_relation |
https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2105/5356 https://polarresearch.net/index.php/polar/article/view/2105 doi:10.3402/polar.v22i2.6452 |
op_rights |
Copyright (c) 2018 Polar Research |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3402/polar.v22i2.6452 |
container_title |
Polar Research |
container_volume |
22 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
145 |
op_container_end_page |
159 |
_version_ |
1766010137059786752 |