Understanding links between snow cover and mass balance using a dense monitoring network in a small Arctic glacier basin (Austre Lovénbreen, Svalbard 79°N)

• Main Authors: Tolle, Florian, Bernard, Eric, Friedt, Jean-Michel, Marlin, Christelle, Griselin, Madeleine
• Other Authors: Théoriser et modéliser pour aménager (UMR 6049) (ThéMA), Université de Franche-Comté (UFC), Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC)-Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université de Bourgogne (UB), Franche-Comté Électronique Mécanique, Thermique et Optique - Sciences et Technologies (UMR 6174) (FEMTO-ST), Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbeliard (UTBM)-Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Mécanique et des Microtechniques (ENSMM)-Université de Franche-Comté (UFC), Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC)-Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté COMUE (UBFC)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Interactions et dynamique des environnements de surface (IDES), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Géosciences Paris Sud (GEOPS), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2013
• Subjects: geo; envir; Arctic; Svalbard; glacier
• Online Access: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00864479

COM International audience Glacier ice is the result of successive transformations of snow. All glaciers are therefore strongly linked with seasonal snowfalls. The frequency of snowfalls, the quantities involved, and the quality of snow all have an influence on the dynamics of glaciers. Snow cover is the prime source of new ice, but it also has a protective role in ablation areas of glaciers. From an hydrological point of view, snow also constitutes an important part of the outflows of glacier basins. A monitoring protocol based on a network of stakes and complemented with regular snow drilling campaigns has been carried out for 5 years on the Austre Lovénbreen (Spistbergen, 79 N). Overall, 36 measurement points have been dis- tributed at regular intervals over the 4.5 km 2 glacier surface. For each of these points the snow cover was measured at a period close to its yearly maximum (usually late April) and expressed in terms of snow height and water equivalent. Mass balance was also recorded yearly at the end of September. Results show that there is a strong link between the annual snow maximum and the resulting mass balance. Areas with the strongest ablation are the ones displaying the highest variability. This is particularly true on years when the snow cover at lower elevations disappears early in the season, exposing ice. In the up- per reaches of the glacier, the links between snow cover and the resulting balance measurements are not clearly structured. Variability seems related to orientation and more or less sheltered position of the accumulation cirques. On most of the remaining glacier area, and especially near the equilibrium line altitude, snow cover and mass balance display a strong correlation