Landscape–seascape dynamics in the isthmus between Sørkapp Land and the rest of Spitsbergen: Will a new big Arctic island form?

• Published in: AMBIO
• Main Authors: Ziaja, Wieslaw, Ostafin, Krzysztof
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Netherlands 2014
• Subjects: Report; Arctic; Arctic Island; Sørkapp Land; Spitsbergen
• Online Access: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4392015; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25384599; https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-014-0572-1

Transformation of the glaciated isthmus between Sørkapp Land and the rest of Spitsbergen since 1900 is described. The landscape–seascape dynamics depends on the glacial recession determined by climate warming after the Little Ice Age (i.e., since the beginning of the twentieth century, and especially since the 1980s). The isthmus has been narrowed from 28 km in 1899–1900 to 6.2 km in 2013, and lowered by 60–200 m from 1936 to 2005. Two isthmus’ glaciers will have melted, given the current thermic conditions, by 2030–2035. It cannot be ruled out that Sørkapp Land will become an island after that period, because the altitude of the glaciers’ bedrock is close to the sea level. The disappearance of this huge ice mass, even without origin of a sound and island, will lead to a great transformation of the landscape and the ecosystem.