Investigating the Thermal Regime of Proglacial Lakes and the Influence on Mass Loss of Glaciers in Arctic Sweden

• Main Author: Dye, Adrian
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of York 2020
• Subjects: Arctic
• Online Access: https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/27300/; https://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/27300/1/DYE_202031597_CorrectedThesisClean.pdf

Glaciers in contact with proglacial lakes show accelerated mass loss rates through mechanical and thermal processes (Carrivick and Tweed, 2013). An inventory of 108 proglacial lakes in Arctic Sweden is presented, results show they have increased in number and area with glacier recession since the 1950s/60s. The retreat of 24 glaciers was mapped from satellite imagery between 2010 and 2018. A common assumption persists that smaller proglacial lakes remain at a uniform 1C. ASTER satellite data was analysed for suface temperatures of proglacial lakes and used to form a conceptual classification of proglacial lake thermal regime by stage of deglaciation. This thesis presents some of the first recorded proglacial lake temperatures from the front of a calving Arctic glacier. The innovative use of thermal infrared imagery at the ice front in July 2017 was supplemented with thermistor temperature surveys (using an ASV). Combined with evidence of rapid thermal undercutting and associated calving, this study provides some of the first direct evidence of proglacial lake temperatures directly impacting the retreat of an Arctic glacier.