Seasonal Velocities on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard
Global warming leads to increased precipitation in the Arctic, as warmer air can carry more moisture. The consequence is that many arctic glaciers get steeper slopes over time as increased melt at their lower part causes thinning and increased solid precipitation in their upper regions leads to thic...
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Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper
2016
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ftuppsalauniv:oai:DiVA.org:uu-296682 2023-05-15T15:03:37+02:00 Seasonal Velocities on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard Säsongvariationer i isflöde på Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard Ehwald, Lena Elisa 2016 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-296682 eng eng Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper Examensarbete vid Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 1650-6553 367 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-296682 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Nordenskiöldbreen Svalbard velocity glaciers climate change mass balance dynamical behaviour of glaciers Glaciär Nordenski öldbreen isflöde massbalans klimatuppvärmnin Student thesis info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis text 2016 ftuppsalauniv 2023-02-23T21:38:05Z Global warming leads to increased precipitation in the Arctic, as warmer air can carry more moisture. The consequence is that many arctic glaciers get steeper slopes over time as increased melt at their lower part causes thinning and increased solid precipitation in their upper regions leads to thickening of the glacier. Ice flow of glaciers is strongly controlled by the surface slope, where steeper slopes leads to increased ice flow. An altered flow regime of the glaciers can lead to unpredicted contributions to sea-level changes as more glacier ice is delivered to lower regions and eventually to the sea through calving of melt- runoff. Long-term measurements of ice-flow velocities are therefore crucial to receive a better understanding of how glaciers respond to climate changes in a temporal and spatial scale. This study investigates ice flow velocities measured over a period of 10 years between 2006 and 2015 on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard. The poly-thermal outlet glacier is centrally located on Spitsbergen; the main island of the Svalbard archipelago (74N°,10°E /81N°,35°E). Ice-flow velocities are measured continuously using stand-alone single-frequency GPS receivers attached to 8 metal stakes along the central flow line of Nordenskiöldbreen. The Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research in Utrecht, the Netherlands (IMAU) has developed such GPS units to measure ice-flow velocities at low costs and all year-round. Ice flow velocities at the central-flow line of Nordenskiöldbreen for the period 2006-2016 are estimated to be between 40 and 60 m a-1. Results show that maximum ice flow velocities can reach up to 80 m a-1 and occur mainly in the beginning of July. The highest annual averaged velocity of 53.88 m a-1 was measured during summer 2014. Averaged ice-flow velocities show an increasing trend of about 1.78 m a-1 during summer seasons. Results are further compared with mass balance observations and temperature records to analyze how glacier systems respond to climate changes. Klimatuppvärmningen bidrar ... Bachelor Thesis Arctic Climate change glacier Global warming Svalbard Spitsbergen Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) Arctic Main Island ENVELOPE(-38.220,-38.220,-54.007,-54.007) Nordenskiöldbreen ENVELOPE(17.166,17.166,78.676,78.676) Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftuppsalauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Nordenskiöldbreen Svalbard velocity glaciers climate change mass balance dynamical behaviour of glaciers Glaciär Nordenski öldbreen isflöde massbalans klimatuppvärmnin |
spellingShingle |
Nordenskiöldbreen Svalbard velocity glaciers climate change mass balance dynamical behaviour of glaciers Glaciär Nordenski öldbreen isflöde massbalans klimatuppvärmnin Ehwald, Lena Elisa Seasonal Velocities on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard |
topic_facet |
Nordenskiöldbreen Svalbard velocity glaciers climate change mass balance dynamical behaviour of glaciers Glaciär Nordenski öldbreen isflöde massbalans klimatuppvärmnin |
description |
Global warming leads to increased precipitation in the Arctic, as warmer air can carry more moisture. The consequence is that many arctic glaciers get steeper slopes over time as increased melt at their lower part causes thinning and increased solid precipitation in their upper regions leads to thickening of the glacier. Ice flow of glaciers is strongly controlled by the surface slope, where steeper slopes leads to increased ice flow. An altered flow regime of the glaciers can lead to unpredicted contributions to sea-level changes as more glacier ice is delivered to lower regions and eventually to the sea through calving of melt- runoff. Long-term measurements of ice-flow velocities are therefore crucial to receive a better understanding of how glaciers respond to climate changes in a temporal and spatial scale. This study investigates ice flow velocities measured over a period of 10 years between 2006 and 2015 on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard. The poly-thermal outlet glacier is centrally located on Spitsbergen; the main island of the Svalbard archipelago (74N°,10°E /81N°,35°E). Ice-flow velocities are measured continuously using stand-alone single-frequency GPS receivers attached to 8 metal stakes along the central flow line of Nordenskiöldbreen. The Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research in Utrecht, the Netherlands (IMAU) has developed such GPS units to measure ice-flow velocities at low costs and all year-round. Ice flow velocities at the central-flow line of Nordenskiöldbreen for the period 2006-2016 are estimated to be between 40 and 60 m a-1. Results show that maximum ice flow velocities can reach up to 80 m a-1 and occur mainly in the beginning of July. The highest annual averaged velocity of 53.88 m a-1 was measured during summer 2014. Averaged ice-flow velocities show an increasing trend of about 1.78 m a-1 during summer seasons. Results are further compared with mass balance observations and temperature records to analyze how glacier systems respond to climate changes. Klimatuppvärmningen bidrar ... |
format |
Bachelor Thesis |
author |
Ehwald, Lena Elisa |
author_facet |
Ehwald, Lena Elisa |
author_sort |
Ehwald, Lena Elisa |
title |
Seasonal Velocities on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard |
title_short |
Seasonal Velocities on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard |
title_full |
Seasonal Velocities on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard |
title_fullStr |
Seasonal Velocities on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard |
title_full_unstemmed |
Seasonal Velocities on Nordenskiöldbreen, Svalbard |
title_sort |
seasonal velocities on nordenskiöldbreen, svalbard |
publisher |
Uppsala universitet, Institutionen för geovetenskaper |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-296682 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-38.220,-38.220,-54.007,-54.007) ENVELOPE(17.166,17.166,78.676,78.676) |
geographic |
Arctic Main Island Nordenskiöldbreen Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Main Island Nordenskiöldbreen Svalbard Svalbard Archipelago |
genre |
Arctic Climate change glacier Global warming Svalbard Spitsbergen |
genre_facet |
Arctic Climate change glacier Global warming Svalbard Spitsbergen |
op_relation |
Examensarbete vid Institutionen för geovetenskaper, 1650-6553 367 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-296682 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
_version_ |
1766335470639251456 |