Coastal evolution and sedimentary mobility of Brøgger Peninsula, northwest Spitsbergen

• Published in: Polar Biology
• Main Authors: Bourriquen, Marine, Baltzer, Agnès, Mercier, Denis, Fournier, Jérôme, Perez, Laurent, Haquin, Sylvain, Bernard, Eric, Jensen, Maria
• Other Authors: Littoral, Environnement, Télédétection, Géomatique UMR 6554 (LETG), Université de Caen Normandie (UNICAEN), Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)-Université d'Angers (UA)-École Pratique des Hautes Études (EPHE), Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université Paris sciences et lettres (PSL)-Université de Brest (UBO)-Université de Rennes 2 (UR2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Institut de Géographie et d'Aménagement Régional de l'Université de Nantes (IGARUN), Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN), Espaces, Nature et Culture (ENeC), Université Paris-Sorbonne (UP4)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Biologie des Organismes et Ecosystèmes Aquatiques (BOREA), Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)-Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (MNHN)-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Sorbonne Université (SU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université des Antilles (UA), Morphodynamique Continentale et Côtière (M2C), Normandie Université (NU)-Normandie Université (NU)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université de Rouen Normandie (UNIROUEN), Normandie Université (NU)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Théoriser et modéliser pour aménager (UMR 6049) (ThéMA), Université de Bourgogne (UB)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Franche-Comté (UFC), Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC)-Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC), The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: Svalbard; Sedimentary flux; High Arctic; Submarine and aerial coastal evolution; Paraglacial; [SHS.GEO]Humanities and Social Sciences/Geography; [SDU.STU.GM]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geomorphology; Arctic; glacier; Kongsfjord*; Kongsfjorden; Polar Biology; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01314603; https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-016-1930-1

International audience Since the end of the Little Ice Age (LIA), Svalbard glaciers have undergone a net retreat in response to changing meteorological conditions. Located between 76°N and 80°N, western Spitsbergen has seen a climatic transition from a glacial to a paraglacial system. On the northern shore of the Brøgger Peninsula (northwest Spitsbergen), the average temperature increased by 3°C between 1965 and 2015, and cold-based valley glaciers have retreated more than 1 km from their LIA limits. This rapid deglaciation has exposed large areas of glacigenic sediments being easily reworked by runoff. This has led to the formation of extensive glacier-river delta systems and coastal progradation. Post-LIA coastal progradation and formation of new landforms in Kongsfjorden have been controlled predominantly by substantial availability of glacial sediment. A combination of aerial photographic and field data has been employed to estimate the post-LIA evolution of coastal sandur deltas and their submarine parts (named here ‘‘prodeltas’’). The data set reveals that delta shoreline advance could have reached around 5m/year between 1966 and 1990 for the most energetic delta of Austre Lovenbreen, and around 4 m/year between 2011 and 2014 for the most energetic delta of Midtre Lovenbreen. The prodeltas registered a net growth from 2009 to 2012: the biggest, located in the prolongation of deltas of Austre Lovenbreen, measured 1033 m in length in 2009 and 1180 m in length in 2012. This substantial amount of sediment supplied in the fjord has an impact on the fjord ecology, especially on the benthic ecosystem.