Changes in the Cold Surface Layer on a Polythermal Glacier during Substantial Ice Mass Loss
Climate change in the Arctic and sub-Arctic has induced substantial changes in the inland cryosphere. The warming climate is causing a reduction in glacier size and extent and the average net mass balance for Arctic glaciers have been negative over the past 40 years. Relatively few studies have been...
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Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper
2015
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ftuppsalauniv:oai:DiVA.org:uu-251362 2023-05-15T14:58:13+02:00 Changes in the Cold Surface Layer on a Polythermal Glacier during Substantial Ice Mass Loss Förändringar i det kalla ytskiktet på en polytermal glaciär under omfattande massförlust Blomdahl, Klara 2015 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-251362 eng eng Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper Examensarbete vid Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 1650-6553 309 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-251362 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Polythermal glacier digital elevation model ground-penetrating radar cold surface layer Pårteglaciären northern Sweden Polytermal glaciär digital höjdmodell georadar kallt ytskikt norra Sverige Physical Geography Naturgeografi Student thesis info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis text 2015 ftuppsalauniv 2023-02-23T21:46:07Z Climate change in the Arctic and sub-Arctic has induced substantial changes in the inland cryosphere. The warming climate is causing a reduction in glacier size and extent and the average net mass balance for Arctic glaciers have been negative over the past 40 years. Relatively few studies have been conducted concerning the development of the thermal distribution in glaciers during extensive volume changes. There is a possible diversity in how the thermal structure might change with a changing climate. Storglaciären is losing the cold surface layer in the ablation area and progressively becomes more temperate, while Kårsaglaciären is losing the zone of temperate ice in the ablation area and consequently becoming colder. The overall objective of this study has been to improve the understanding of the thermal response of polythermal glaciers to climate change. The results from Pårteglaciären, northern Sweden, indicate a decrease in volume by 18% in the last 15 years with an expected decrease of 35% of its present size during the coming century. As a consequence of the prevailing climate and volume decrease Pårteglaciären is experiencing a thinning of the cold surface layer at an average rate of 1.13 m a-1. The volumetric and cold surface layer changes are in the same magnitude, which may indicate that the CTS adapts relatively rapidly to the present changes. Assuming a climatic effect similar to what has been observed on Storglaciären, it can be concluded that the thinning has influenced the thermal regime. But in contrast to Kårsaglaciären, the thermal distribution on Pårteglaciären has become more temperate as a result of the substantial mass loss. Klimatförändringar i Arktis och subarktis har orsakat stora förändringar i kryosfären. Ett varmare klimat orsakar en minskning av glaciärers storlek och omfattning och nettomassbalansen för Arktiska glaciärer har varit negativ under de senaste 40 åren. Relativt få studier har genomförts angående utvecklingen av den termiska fördelningen i ... Bachelor Thesis Arctic Arktis Arktis* Climate change Norra Sverige Northern Sweden Subarktis Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) Arctic Kalla ENVELOPE(19.617,19.617,67.050,67.050) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftuppsalauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Polythermal glacier digital elevation model ground-penetrating radar cold surface layer Pårteglaciären northern Sweden Polytermal glaciär digital höjdmodell georadar kallt ytskikt norra Sverige Physical Geography Naturgeografi |
spellingShingle |
Polythermal glacier digital elevation model ground-penetrating radar cold surface layer Pårteglaciären northern Sweden Polytermal glaciär digital höjdmodell georadar kallt ytskikt norra Sverige Physical Geography Naturgeografi Blomdahl, Klara Changes in the Cold Surface Layer on a Polythermal Glacier during Substantial Ice Mass Loss |
topic_facet |
Polythermal glacier digital elevation model ground-penetrating radar cold surface layer Pårteglaciären northern Sweden Polytermal glaciär digital höjdmodell georadar kallt ytskikt norra Sverige Physical Geography Naturgeografi |
description |
Climate change in the Arctic and sub-Arctic has induced substantial changes in the inland cryosphere. The warming climate is causing a reduction in glacier size and extent and the average net mass balance for Arctic glaciers have been negative over the past 40 years. Relatively few studies have been conducted concerning the development of the thermal distribution in glaciers during extensive volume changes. There is a possible diversity in how the thermal structure might change with a changing climate. Storglaciären is losing the cold surface layer in the ablation area and progressively becomes more temperate, while Kårsaglaciären is losing the zone of temperate ice in the ablation area and consequently becoming colder. The overall objective of this study has been to improve the understanding of the thermal response of polythermal glaciers to climate change. The results from Pårteglaciären, northern Sweden, indicate a decrease in volume by 18% in the last 15 years with an expected decrease of 35% of its present size during the coming century. As a consequence of the prevailing climate and volume decrease Pårteglaciären is experiencing a thinning of the cold surface layer at an average rate of 1.13 m a-1. The volumetric and cold surface layer changes are in the same magnitude, which may indicate that the CTS adapts relatively rapidly to the present changes. Assuming a climatic effect similar to what has been observed on Storglaciären, it can be concluded that the thinning has influenced the thermal regime. But in contrast to Kårsaglaciären, the thermal distribution on Pårteglaciären has become more temperate as a result of the substantial mass loss. Klimatförändringar i Arktis och subarktis har orsakat stora förändringar i kryosfären. Ett varmare klimat orsakar en minskning av glaciärers storlek och omfattning och nettomassbalansen för Arktiska glaciärer har varit negativ under de senaste 40 åren. Relativt få studier har genomförts angående utvecklingen av den termiska fördelningen i ... |
format |
Bachelor Thesis |
author |
Blomdahl, Klara |
author_facet |
Blomdahl, Klara |
author_sort |
Blomdahl, Klara |
title |
Changes in the Cold Surface Layer on a Polythermal Glacier during Substantial Ice Mass Loss |
title_short |
Changes in the Cold Surface Layer on a Polythermal Glacier during Substantial Ice Mass Loss |
title_full |
Changes in the Cold Surface Layer on a Polythermal Glacier during Substantial Ice Mass Loss |
title_fullStr |
Changes in the Cold Surface Layer on a Polythermal Glacier during Substantial Ice Mass Loss |
title_full_unstemmed |
Changes in the Cold Surface Layer on a Polythermal Glacier during Substantial Ice Mass Loss |
title_sort |
changes in the cold surface layer on a polythermal glacier during substantial ice mass loss |
publisher |
Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-251362 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(19.617,19.617,67.050,67.050) |
geographic |
Arctic Kalla |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Kalla |
genre |
Arctic Arktis Arktis* Climate change Norra Sverige Northern Sweden Subarktis |
genre_facet |
Arctic Arktis Arktis* Climate change Norra Sverige Northern Sweden Subarktis |
op_relation |
Examensarbete vid Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 1650-6553 309 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-251362 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
_version_ |
1766330298278084608 |