Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability
Compared to other Arctic ice masses, Svalbard glaciers are low-elevated with flat interior accumulation areas, resulting in a marked peak in their current hypsometry (area-elevation distribution) at ~450 m above sea level. Since summer melt consistently exceeds winter snowfall, these low-lying glaci...
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Uppsala universitet, Luft-, vatten- och landskapslära
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Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-419633 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1 |
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ftuppsalauniv:oai:DiVA.org:uu-419633 2023-06-18T03:39:26+02:00 Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability Noël, Brice Jakobs, Constantijn Van Pelt, Ward Lhermitte, Stef Wouters, Bert Kohler, Jack Hagen, Jon Ove Luks, Bartlomiej Reijmer, Carleen Van de Berg, Willem Jan Van den Broeke, Michiel 2020 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-419633 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1 eng eng Uppsala universitet, Luft-, vatten- och landskapslära Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584 CC, Utrecht, Netherlands Delft Univ Technol, Dept Geosci & Remote Sensing, NL-2600 AA Delft, Netherlands Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht, Utrecht University, 3584 CC, Utrecht, Netherlands; Delft Univ Technol, Dept Geosci & Remote Sensing, NL-2600 AA Delft, Netherlands Norwegian Polar Res Inst, N-9296 Tromso, Norway Univ Oslo, Dept Geosci, N-0371 Oslo, Norway Polish Acad Sci, Inst Geophys, PL-01452 Warsaw, Poland Springer Nature Nature Communications, 2020, 11:4597, orcid:0000-0003-4839-7900 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-419633 doi:10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1 PMID 32929066 ISI:000607150300008 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess glacier mass loss Svalbard modelling Physical Geography Naturgeografi Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2020 ftuppsalauniv https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1 2023-06-07T22:30:49Z Compared to other Arctic ice masses, Svalbard glaciers are low-elevated with flat interior accumulation areas, resulting in a marked peak in their current hypsometry (area-elevation distribution) at ~450 m above sea level. Since summer melt consistently exceeds winter snowfall, these low-lying glaciers can only survive by refreezing a considerable fraction of surface melt and rain in the porous firn layer covering their accumulation zones. We use a high-resolution climate model to show that modest atmospheric warming in the mid-1980s forced the firn zone to retreat upward by ~100 m to coincide with the hypsometry peak. This led to a rapid areal reduction of firn cover available for refreezing, and strongly increased runoff from dark, bare ice areas, amplifying mass loss from all elevations. As the firn line fluctuates around the hypsometry peak in the current climate, Svalbard glaciers will continue to lose mass and show high sensitivity to temperature perturbations. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic glacier Svalbard Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) Arctic Svalbard Nature Communications 11 1 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Uppsala University: Publications (DiVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftuppsalauniv |
language |
English |
topic |
glacier mass loss Svalbard modelling Physical Geography Naturgeografi |
spellingShingle |
glacier mass loss Svalbard modelling Physical Geography Naturgeografi Noël, Brice Jakobs, Constantijn Van Pelt, Ward Lhermitte, Stef Wouters, Bert Kohler, Jack Hagen, Jon Ove Luks, Bartlomiej Reijmer, Carleen Van de Berg, Willem Jan Van den Broeke, Michiel Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
topic_facet |
glacier mass loss Svalbard modelling Physical Geography Naturgeografi |
description |
Compared to other Arctic ice masses, Svalbard glaciers are low-elevated with flat interior accumulation areas, resulting in a marked peak in their current hypsometry (area-elevation distribution) at ~450 m above sea level. Since summer melt consistently exceeds winter snowfall, these low-lying glaciers can only survive by refreezing a considerable fraction of surface melt and rain in the porous firn layer covering their accumulation zones. We use a high-resolution climate model to show that modest atmospheric warming in the mid-1980s forced the firn zone to retreat upward by ~100 m to coincide with the hypsometry peak. This led to a rapid areal reduction of firn cover available for refreezing, and strongly increased runoff from dark, bare ice areas, amplifying mass loss from all elevations. As the firn line fluctuates around the hypsometry peak in the current climate, Svalbard glaciers will continue to lose mass and show high sensitivity to temperature perturbations. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Noël, Brice Jakobs, Constantijn Van Pelt, Ward Lhermitte, Stef Wouters, Bert Kohler, Jack Hagen, Jon Ove Luks, Bartlomiej Reijmer, Carleen Van de Berg, Willem Jan Van den Broeke, Michiel |
author_facet |
Noël, Brice Jakobs, Constantijn Van Pelt, Ward Lhermitte, Stef Wouters, Bert Kohler, Jack Hagen, Jon Ove Luks, Bartlomiej Reijmer, Carleen Van de Berg, Willem Jan Van den Broeke, Michiel |
author_sort |
Noël, Brice |
title |
Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
title_short |
Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
title_full |
Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
title_fullStr |
Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
title_full_unstemmed |
Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
title_sort |
low elevation of svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability |
publisher |
Uppsala universitet, Luft-, vatten- och landskapslära |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-419633 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1 |
geographic |
Arctic Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Svalbard |
genre |
Arctic glacier Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Arctic glacier Svalbard |
op_relation |
Nature Communications, 2020, 11:4597, orcid:0000-0003-4839-7900 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-419633 doi:10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1 PMID 32929066 ISI:000607150300008 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-18356-1 |
container_title |
Nature Communications |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
_version_ |
1769004191086280704 |