Reconciling Svalbard Glacier Mass Balance

Frontiers in Earth Science

Ward J. J. Van Pelt¹  Veijo A. Pohjola¹  Ireneusz Sobota²  Jacek A. Jania³  Thomas V. Schuler⁵  Andrew J. Hodson⁶  Jon Ove M. Hagen⁷  Andreas M. Kääb⁷  Jakub Małecki⁸  Nelly Elagina⁹  Bartłomiej Luks^1,10  Jack Kohler^1,11  Geir Moholdt^1,11 

[1] 0Department of Earth Sciences, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden;1Department of Hydrology and Water Management, Polar Research Center, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland;Centre for Polar Studies, Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland;Department of Arctic Geology, The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), Longyearbyen, Norway;Department of Arctic Geophysics, The University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS), Longyearbyen, Norway;Department of Environmental Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Sogndal, Norway;Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway;Institute of Geoecology and Geoinformation, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland;Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia;Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland;Norwegian Polar Institute, Fram Centre, Tromsø, Norway;

关键词: Svalbard;    Arctic glaciers;    glacier mass balance;    mass balance modeling;    glaciological mass balance;    geodetic mass balance;   

DOI  :  10.3389/feart.2020.00156

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Since the first estimates of Svalbard-wide glacier mass balance were made in the early 2000s, there has been great progress in remote sensing and modeling of mass balance, existing field records have been extended, field records at new locations have been added, and there has been considerable environmental change. There is a wide spread in the available estimates of both total mass balance and surface or climatic mass balance, but there is overall agreement that the glaciers on Svalbard have been losing mass since the 1960s, with a tendency toward more negative mass balance since 2000. We define criteria to select data that are representative and of high credibility; this subset shows a more coherent evolution and reduced spread. In addition, we combine individual field mass balance records collected by different groups into a single dataset that samples glaciers across Svalbard and a range of different size classes. We find a close relationship between measured specific surface mass balance and size of the glacier, in such a way that smaller glaciers experience more negative surface mass balances. A qualitatively similar relationship between the accumulation area ratio and glacier area is found for all glaciers in the Svalbard, suggesting that the relation derived from glaciological records is not only an artifact caused by the limited number of samples (n = 12). We apply this relation to upscale measured surface mass balance for a new estimate for all glaciers of Svalbard. Our reconciled estimates are −7 ± 4 Gt a–1 (2000–2019) for the climatic mass balance, and −8 ± 6 Gt a–1 for the total mass balance. The difference between the two represents the sum of frontal ablation and the combined uncertainty, which together amount to ca. −2 ± 7 Gt a–1. While this is consistent with a previous estimate of Svalbard-wide frontal ablation, the uncertainties are large. Furthermore, several large and long-lasting surges have had considerable and multi-year impact on the total mass balance, and in particular on calving rates, emphasizing the need for better-resolved and more frequently updated estimates of frontal ablation.

【 授权许可】

Unknown