The Ice-Free Topography of Svalbard

• Published in: Geophysical Research Letters
• Main Authors: Fürst, Johannes, Navarro, Francisco, Gillet-Chaulet, Fabien, Huss, Matthias, Moholdt, Geir, Fettweis, Xavier, Lang, Charlotte, Seehaus, Thorsten, Ai, Songtao, Benham, Toby, Benn, Douglas, Björnsson, Helgi, Dowdeswell, Julian, Grabiec, Mariusz, Kohler, Jack, Lavrentiev, Ivan, Lindbäck, Katrin, Melvold, Kjetil, Pettersson, Rickard, Rippin, David, Saintenoy, Albane, Sánchez-Gámez, Pablo, Schüler, Thomas, Sevestre, Heïdi, Vasilenko, Evgeny, Braun, Matthias
• Other Authors: Friedrich-Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg = University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU), University Politecnica de Madrid, Centre for Automation and Robotics (UPM - CSIC), Institut des Géosciences de l’Environnement (IGE), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP )-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Université Grenoble Alpes 2016-2019 (UGA 2016-2019 ), Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology (Grenoble INP ), Université de Fribourg = University of Fribourg (UNIFR), Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology, Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich (ETH Zürich), Norwegian Polar Institute, Université de Liège, Wuhan University China, University of Cambridge UK (CAM), University of Saint Andrews, University of Iceland Reykjavik, University of Silesia in Katowice, Institute of Geography of RAS, Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow (RAS), Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), Uppsala University, University of York York, UK, Géosciences Paris Sud (GEOPS), Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (UPM), University of Oslo (UiO), The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2018
• Subjects: [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Svalbard; glacier
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01967441; https://hal.science/hal-01967441/document; https://hal.science/hal-01967441/file/2018GL079734.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL079734

International audience We present a first version of the Svalbard ice-free topography (SVIFT1.0) using a mass conserving approach for mapping glacier ice thickness. SVIFT1.0 is informed by more than 1 million point measurements, totalling more than 8,700 km of thickness profiles. SVIFT1.0 is publicly available and represents the geometric state around the year 2010. Our estimate for the total ice volume is 6,199 km 3 ,equivalent to 1.5-cm sea level rise. The thickness map suggests that 13% of the glacierized area is grounded below sea level. A complementary map of error estimates comprises uncertainties in the thickness surveys as well as in other input variables. Aggregated error estimates are used to define a likely ice-volume range of 5,200–7,300 km 3. The ice front thickness of marine-terminating glaciers is a key quantity for ice loss attribution because it controls the potential ice discharge by iceberg calving into the ocean. We find a mean ice front thickness of 135 m for the archipelago (likely range 123–158 m)