Glacier Firn Area Change - Svalbard

• Main Author: König, Max
• Format: Dataset
• Language: unknown
• Published: Norwegian Polar Institute 2013
• Subjects: GEOSCIENTIFIC INFORMATION; Firn; Glacier; Svalbard; glaciology; EARTH SCIENCE; CRYOSPHERE; GLACIERS/ICE SHEETS; GLACIER FACIES; FIRN; CLIMATE INDICATORS; CRYOSPHERIC INDICATORS; FIRN LIMIT; GLACIERS; glacier
• Online Access: http://data.npolar.no/dataset/f1fc782a-fa7b-11e2-bd10-005056ad0004

On many glaciers in Svalbard, three surface types are visible on SAR images, the dark glacier ice at the glacier's lower end, the brighter superimposed ice in the middle, and the white firn at the higher elevations. Surface classification of these types is valuable especially since the retreat or advance of the firn area provides information on the status of the glacier. While the snowline reacts immediately to annual changes, the firn area smoothes out these short-term changes and shows, similar to the glacier front, longer-term changes of the glaciers. Glacier Firn Area Change is based on the "Glacier Surface Type - Svalbard" dataset, presenting the actual area value sper glacier and year as tabular data to be plotted graphically