Rapid temperature rise may have triggered glacier surges all over Svalbard
Observational and geomorphological records suggest that most glaciers on Svalbard reached their maximum Little Ice Age extents by means of surging. Furthermore, it seems to have happened within just a few decades, suggesting that the rapid concurrent changes in climate might have triggered this wide...
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UiT Norges arktiske universitet
2020
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ftunivtroemsoe:oai:munin.uit.no:10037/21145 2023-05-15T16:22:07+02:00 Rapid temperature rise may have triggered glacier surges all over Svalbard Schytt Holmlund, Erik 2020-05-04 https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21145 eng eng UiT Norges arktiske universitet UiT The Arctic University of Norway https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21145 Copyright 2020 The Author(s) VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450::Quaternary geology glaciology: 465 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450::Kvartærgeologi glasiologi: 465 GEO-3900 Mastergradsoppgave Master thesis 2020 ftunivtroemsoe 2021-06-25T17:58:10Z Observational and geomorphological records suggest that most glaciers on Svalbard reached their maximum Little Ice Age extents by means of surging. Furthermore, it seems to have happened within just a few decades, suggesting that the rapid concurrent changes in climate might have triggered this widespread surging. The specific precipitation and temperature range of Svalbard seems optimal for glacier surges, and areas with a climatic trend toward the same range may therefore exhibit more glacier surging in the future. This is important, as surges contribute significantly to overall melt and sea-level rise when they occur, and the potential for it to spread is essential to study further. To understand the phenomenon better, five glaciers in Bolterdalen and Foxdalen on Svalbard were studied in depth. Observational, geomorphological, photogrammetric, and ground penetrating radar data indicate that four out of five glaciers seemed to have surged between 1896 and 1936. On average, they lost 81%±7% of their volumes between 1936 and 2019, twice as much as the one glacier that did not show signs of surging. In addition, the glacier Scott Turnerbreen lost 90.4%±5.4 of its volume in the same interval, in a previously undescribed kind of surge where it did not terminate in stagnation directly, but instead continued to advance for many years. This surge and post-surge advance phase occurred over between 22 and 47 years, making it the longest dynamically driven advance ever recorded on Svalbard. The results indicate that climate change-triggered surging may expedite subsequent melt by multiple times, highlighting the immense need to study the phenomenon further and include it in future ice-loss projections. Master Thesis glacier Svalbard University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive Svalbard Bolterdalen ENVELOPE(15.945,15.945,78.146,78.146) Scott Turnerbreen ENVELOPE(15.967,15.967,78.100,78.100) Foxdalen ENVELOPE(16.254,16.254,78.138,78.138) Glacier Scott ENVELOPE(69.249,69.249,-49.269,-49.269) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
University of Tromsø: Munin Open Research Archive |
op_collection_id |
ftunivtroemsoe |
language |
English |
topic |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450::Quaternary geology glaciology: 465 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450::Kvartærgeologi glasiologi: 465 GEO-3900 |
spellingShingle |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450::Quaternary geology glaciology: 465 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450::Kvartærgeologi glasiologi: 465 GEO-3900 Schytt Holmlund, Erik Rapid temperature rise may have triggered glacier surges all over Svalbard |
topic_facet |
VDP::Mathematics and natural science: 400::Geosciences: 450::Quaternary geology glaciology: 465 VDP::Matematikk og Naturvitenskap: 400::Geofag: 450::Kvartærgeologi glasiologi: 465 GEO-3900 |
description |
Observational and geomorphological records suggest that most glaciers on Svalbard reached their maximum Little Ice Age extents by means of surging. Furthermore, it seems to have happened within just a few decades, suggesting that the rapid concurrent changes in climate might have triggered this widespread surging. The specific precipitation and temperature range of Svalbard seems optimal for glacier surges, and areas with a climatic trend toward the same range may therefore exhibit more glacier surging in the future. This is important, as surges contribute significantly to overall melt and sea-level rise when they occur, and the potential for it to spread is essential to study further. To understand the phenomenon better, five glaciers in Bolterdalen and Foxdalen on Svalbard were studied in depth. Observational, geomorphological, photogrammetric, and ground penetrating radar data indicate that four out of five glaciers seemed to have surged between 1896 and 1936. On average, they lost 81%±7% of their volumes between 1936 and 2019, twice as much as the one glacier that did not show signs of surging. In addition, the glacier Scott Turnerbreen lost 90.4%±5.4 of its volume in the same interval, in a previously undescribed kind of surge where it did not terminate in stagnation directly, but instead continued to advance for many years. This surge and post-surge advance phase occurred over between 22 and 47 years, making it the longest dynamically driven advance ever recorded on Svalbard. The results indicate that climate change-triggered surging may expedite subsequent melt by multiple times, highlighting the immense need to study the phenomenon further and include it in future ice-loss projections. |
format |
Master Thesis |
author |
Schytt Holmlund, Erik |
author_facet |
Schytt Holmlund, Erik |
author_sort |
Schytt Holmlund, Erik |
title |
Rapid temperature rise may have triggered glacier surges all over Svalbard |
title_short |
Rapid temperature rise may have triggered glacier surges all over Svalbard |
title_full |
Rapid temperature rise may have triggered glacier surges all over Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Rapid temperature rise may have triggered glacier surges all over Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rapid temperature rise may have triggered glacier surges all over Svalbard |
title_sort |
rapid temperature rise may have triggered glacier surges all over svalbard |
publisher |
UiT Norges arktiske universitet |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21145 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(15.945,15.945,78.146,78.146) ENVELOPE(15.967,15.967,78.100,78.100) ENVELOPE(16.254,16.254,78.138,78.138) ENVELOPE(69.249,69.249,-49.269,-49.269) |
geographic |
Svalbard Bolterdalen Scott Turnerbreen Foxdalen Glacier Scott |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard Bolterdalen Scott Turnerbreen Foxdalen Glacier Scott |
genre |
glacier Svalbard |
genre_facet |
glacier Svalbard |
op_relation |
https://hdl.handle.net/10037/21145 |
op_rights |
Copyright 2020 The Author(s) |
_version_ |
1766010098289737728 |