Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability
Abstract Compared to other Arctic ice masses, Svalbard glaciers are low-elevated with flat interior accumulation areas, resulting in a marked peak in their current hypsometry (area-elevation distribution) at ~450 m above sea level. Since summer melt consistently exceeds winter snowfall, these low-ly...
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ftoslouniv:oai:www.duo.uio.no:10852/83822 2023-05-15T15:03:24+02:00 Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability Noël, Brice P.Y. Jakobs, Constantijn L. van Pelt, Ward Lhermitte, Stef Wouters, Bert Kohler, Jack Hagen, Jon Ove Methlie Luks, Bartlomiej Reijmer, Carleen van de Berg, Willem Jan van den Broeke, den 2021-02-03T19:40:32Z http://hdl.handle.net/10852/83822 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-86547 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1 EN eng http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-86547 Noël, Brice P.Y. Jakobs, Constantijn L. van Pelt, Ward Lhermitte, Stef Wouters, Bert Kohler, Jack Hagen, Jon Ove Methlie Hagen, Jon Ove Methlie Luks, Bartlomiej Reijmer, Carleen van de Berg, Willem Jan van den Broeke, den . Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability. Nature Communications. 2020, 11:4597, 1-8 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/83822 1886500 info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=Nature Communications&rft.volume=11:4597&rft.spage=1&rft.date=2020 Nature Communications 11 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1 URN:NBN:no-86547 Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/83822/2/s41467-020-18356-1.pdf Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ CC-BY 2041-1723 Journal article Tidsskriftartikkel Peer reviewed PublishedVersion 2021 ftoslouniv https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1 2021-03-10T23:30:58Z Abstract Compared to other Arctic ice masses, Svalbard glaciers are low-elevated with flat interior accumulation areas, resulting in a marked peak in their current hypsometry (area-elevation distribution) at ~450 m above sea level. Since summer melt consistently exceeds winter snowfall, these low-lying glaciers can only survive by refreezing a considerable fraction of surface melt and rain in the porous firn layer covering their accumulation zones. We use a high-resolution climate model to show that modest atmospheric warming in the mid-1980s forced the firn zone to retreat upward by ~100 m to coincide with the hypsometry peak. This led to a rapid areal reduction of firn cover available for refreezing, and strongly increased runoff from dark, bare ice areas, amplifying mass loss from all elevations. As the firn line fluctuates around the hypsometry peak in the current climate, Svalbard glaciers will continue to lose mass and show high sensitivity to temperature perturbations. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Svalbard Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) Arctic Svalbard Nature Communications 11 1 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Universitet i Oslo: Digitale utgivelser ved UiO (DUO) |
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ftoslouniv |
language |
English |
description |
Abstract Compared to other Arctic ice masses, Svalbard glaciers are low-elevated with flat interior accumulation areas, resulting in a marked peak in their current hypsometry (area-elevation distribution) at ~450 m above sea level. Since summer melt consistently exceeds winter snowfall, these low-lying glaciers can only survive by refreezing a considerable fraction of surface melt and rain in the porous firn layer covering their accumulation zones. We use a high-resolution climate model to show that modest atmospheric warming in the mid-1980s forced the firn zone to retreat upward by ~100 m to coincide with the hypsometry peak. This led to a rapid areal reduction of firn cover available for refreezing, and strongly increased runoff from dark, bare ice areas, amplifying mass loss from all elevations. As the firn line fluctuates around the hypsometry peak in the current climate, Svalbard glaciers will continue to lose mass and show high sensitivity to temperature perturbations. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Noël, Brice P.Y. Jakobs, Constantijn L. van Pelt, Ward Lhermitte, Stef Wouters, Bert Kohler, Jack Hagen, Jon Ove Methlie Luks, Bartlomiej Reijmer, Carleen van de Berg, Willem Jan van den Broeke, den |
spellingShingle |
Noël, Brice P.Y. Jakobs, Constantijn L. van Pelt, Ward Lhermitte, Stef Wouters, Bert Kohler, Jack Hagen, Jon Ove Methlie Luks, Bartlomiej Reijmer, Carleen van de Berg, Willem Jan van den Broeke, den Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
author_facet |
Noël, Brice P.Y. Jakobs, Constantijn L. van Pelt, Ward Lhermitte, Stef Wouters, Bert Kohler, Jack Hagen, Jon Ove Methlie Luks, Bartlomiej Reijmer, Carleen van de Berg, Willem Jan van den Broeke, den |
author_sort |
Noël, Brice P.Y. |
title |
Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
title_short |
Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
title_full |
Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
title_fullStr |
Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
title_full_unstemmed |
Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
title_sort |
low elevation of svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
http://hdl.handle.net/10852/83822 http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-86547 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
op_source |
2041-1723 |
op_relation |
http://urn.nb.no/URN:NBN:no-86547 Noël, Brice P.Y. Jakobs, Constantijn L. van Pelt, Ward Lhermitte, Stef Wouters, Bert Kohler, Jack Hagen, Jon Ove Methlie Hagen, Jon Ove Methlie Luks, Bartlomiej Reijmer, Carleen van de Berg, Willem Jan van den Broeke, den . Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability. Nature Communications. 2020, 11:4597, 1-8 http://hdl.handle.net/10852/83822 1886500 info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&ctx_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:journal&rft.jtitle=Nature Communications&rft.volume=11:4597&rft.spage=1&rft.date=2020 Nature Communications 11 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1 URN:NBN:no-86547 Fulltext https://www.duo.uio.no/bitstream/handle/10852/83822/2/s41467-020-18356-1.pdf |
op_rights |
Attribution 4.0 International https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1 |
container_title |
Nature Communications |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1766335263576948736 |