The influence of drifting snow on the location of glaciers on western Spitsbergen, Svalbard
On western Spitsbergen, Svalbard, the amount of winter precipitation is insufficient to maintain the present-day mass balance of the local glaciers. Additional snow mass must be added to the precipitation to reach the observed accumulation rates of the glaciers. It was assumed in previous work that...
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Cambridge University Press
2005
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3098800 https://doi.org/10.3189/172756405781812628 |
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ftngi:oai:ngi.brage.unit.no:11250/3098800 2023-11-12T04:01:18+01:00 The influence of drifting snow on the location of glaciers on western Spitsbergen, Svalbard Jaedicke, Christian Gauer, Peter 2005 application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3098800 https://doi.org/10.3189/172756405781812628 eng eng Cambridge University Press urn:issn:0260-3055 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3098800 https://doi.org/10.3189/172756405781812628 International Glaciological Society 237-242 42 Annals of Glaciology Avalanche-RnD Snøskred-FoU Journal article 2005 ftngi https://doi.org/10.3189/172756405781812628 2023-11-01T23:48:58Z On western Spitsbergen, Svalbard, the amount of winter precipitation is insufficient to maintain the present-day mass balance of the local glaciers. Additional snow mass must be added to the precipitation to reach the observed accumulation rates of the glaciers. It was assumed in previous work that this additional mass is transported onto the glaciers by drifting snow and snow avalanches. This study is a first attempt to quantify the amount of snow mass added to the glacier mass balance by wind-transported snow. The wind field over an area of 60 × 50 km2 on western Spitsbergen was simulated for 24 idealized weather types by a mesoscale meteorological model on a 750 m grid. The resulting wind velocities and directions were coupled to a two-level snowdrift model. The model output clearly shows erosion and accumulation areas in the terrain. Comparison with the present glacier locations suggests that the glacier accumulation areas coincide with low wind speeds. Moreover, exposed areas with high wind speeds are mostly glacier-free in reality. Thus, the wind field and corresponding snowdrift gives an indication of the location of the present glaciers on western Spitsbergen. Article in Journal/Newspaper Annals of Glaciology glacier Svalbard Spitsbergen Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) Digital Archive Annals of Glaciology 42 237 242 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Norwegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) Digital Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftngi |
language |
English |
topic |
Avalanche-RnD Snøskred-FoU |
spellingShingle |
Avalanche-RnD Snøskred-FoU Jaedicke, Christian Gauer, Peter The influence of drifting snow on the location of glaciers on western Spitsbergen, Svalbard |
topic_facet |
Avalanche-RnD Snøskred-FoU |
description |
On western Spitsbergen, Svalbard, the amount of winter precipitation is insufficient to maintain the present-day mass balance of the local glaciers. Additional snow mass must be added to the precipitation to reach the observed accumulation rates of the glaciers. It was assumed in previous work that this additional mass is transported onto the glaciers by drifting snow and snow avalanches. This study is a first attempt to quantify the amount of snow mass added to the glacier mass balance by wind-transported snow. The wind field over an area of 60 × 50 km2 on western Spitsbergen was simulated for 24 idealized weather types by a mesoscale meteorological model on a 750 m grid. The resulting wind velocities and directions were coupled to a two-level snowdrift model. The model output clearly shows erosion and accumulation areas in the terrain. Comparison with the present glacier locations suggests that the glacier accumulation areas coincide with low wind speeds. Moreover, exposed areas with high wind speeds are mostly glacier-free in reality. Thus, the wind field and corresponding snowdrift gives an indication of the location of the present glaciers on western Spitsbergen. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Jaedicke, Christian Gauer, Peter |
author_facet |
Jaedicke, Christian Gauer, Peter |
author_sort |
Jaedicke, Christian |
title |
The influence of drifting snow on the location of glaciers on western Spitsbergen, Svalbard |
title_short |
The influence of drifting snow on the location of glaciers on western Spitsbergen, Svalbard |
title_full |
The influence of drifting snow on the location of glaciers on western Spitsbergen, Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
The influence of drifting snow on the location of glaciers on western Spitsbergen, Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
The influence of drifting snow on the location of glaciers on western Spitsbergen, Svalbard |
title_sort |
influence of drifting snow on the location of glaciers on western spitsbergen, svalbard |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2005 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3098800 https://doi.org/10.3189/172756405781812628 |
genre |
Annals of Glaciology glacier Svalbard Spitsbergen |
genre_facet |
Annals of Glaciology glacier Svalbard Spitsbergen |
op_source |
237-242 42 Annals of Glaciology |
op_relation |
urn:issn:0260-3055 https://hdl.handle.net/11250/3098800 https://doi.org/10.3189/172756405781812628 |
op_rights |
International Glaciological Society |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.3189/172756405781812628 |
container_title |
Annals of Glaciology |
container_volume |
42 |
container_start_page |
237 |
op_container_end_page |
242 |
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1782332272978952192 |