You are browsing the archive for svalbard glacier retreat Archives - From a Glacier's Perspective.
September 14, 2022
Freemanbreen, Svalbard Retreat Leads to Island Formation
Freemanbreen in 1990 and 2022 Landsat images. Both are years with limited retained snowcover (S) and some area of retained firn (F). The glacier has retreated from a new island that had formed at Point D. At Point A-C glacier melt and resultant thinning has exposed and expanded bedrock areas. Freemanbreen is the primary southern outlet glacier of the icecap that dominates Barentsøya, Svlabard. Here we examine Landsat imagery from …
August 29, 2022
Edgeøya, Svalbard Ice Caps Snow Free in 2022; Fragmentation Ongoing
Langjokulen (La), Kvitisen (Kv), Bergfonna (Be) and Blaisen (Bl) ice caps on Edgeøya in Landsat images from 1990 and 2022. Two years of excepational melt where the ice caps lost all of their snow cover. Here the changes in the ice caps are reviwed at Points A-J. Edgeøya, Svalbard is ~40% ice covered had a number of ice caps some reaching tidewater and others in the interior (Dowdeswell and Bamber …
June 9, 2022
Hayesbreen, Svalbard Retreat Generating Separation
Hayesbreen (HB), Heuglinbreen (HE) and Konigsbergbreen (KB) terminating in Mohnbutka (M) in 2002 and 2021 Landsat imagery. Retreat to Point E, and reduction in connection at Point B is evident and distance from Point A to the terminus. Hayesbreen, Heuglinbreen and Konigsbergbreen merge forming a single tidewater front in Mohnbutka on the east coast of Svalbard. Here we examine the retreat of this glacier system and ongoing separation of Hayesbreen …
August 16, 2020
Mendeleevbreen/Øydebreen, Svalbard Terminus Retreat and Snowline Rise
Øydebreen (O) and Mendeleevbreen (M) in 2002 and 2020 Landsat images. Red arrow is the 1990/2002 terminus, yellow arrow the 2020 terminus and purple dots the snowline. Øydebreen and Mendeleevbreen are a pair of glaciers in Sørkapp Land, Svalbard that a share a divide. Mendeleevbreen flows north to Hornsund and Øydebreen south to Isbutka, meeting at the ice divide at 300 m. The Institute of Geophysics Polish Academy have maintained …
July 10, 2020
Harrietbreen, Svalbard Retreats From Coast Loses Accumulation Zone
Harrietbreen (H) and Kjerulfbreen (K) in 1990 and 2020 Landsat images. Red arrow 1990 terminus, yellow arrow 2020 terminus and purple dots the snowline. No snow on Harrietbreen in early July 2020. Point 1 and 2 are divides between glaciers. Harrietbreen is small glacier that feeds into Trygghamna a small fjord the is part of the large Isfjorden on the east coast of Svalbard, mergin with Kjerulfbreen near the terminus. …
December 11, 2019
Austre Torellbreen, Svalbard Retreat and Nunatak Expansion
Austre Torellbreen in 2000 and 2019 Landsat images. Red arrow is the 2000 terminus location, yellow arrow the 2019 terminus location. Point 1,2 and 3 are nunatak areas that are expanding. Austre Torellbreen is an outlet glacier on the southwest coast of Svalbard. It is just west of calving glacier that are retreating such as Paierbreen and Samarinbreen and adjacent to the land terminating Nannbreen. Blaszczyk et al (2008) report …
September 23, 2019
Orsabreen, Svalbard Retreat leads to Lake Tripling in Size
Response of Orasbreen (O), Glopeken (G) and Holmstrombreen (H) to climate change as indicated by 1995 and 2019 Landsat images. Red arrow is 1995 terminus, yellow arrow 2019 terminus, pink arrows a deepening supraglacial stream channel and purple dots the snowline. Orsabreen terminates in an expansing prolgacial lake, Trebrevatnet, that is shared with a glacier it has separated from Holmstrombreen. The glacier shares an accumulation zone with Kronebreen, a glacier …
June 20, 2019
Arnesenbreen, Svalbard Retreat, Separation and Surge
Arnesenbreen (A) and Bereznikovbreen (B) in 1990 and 2018 Landsat images. Red arrow is 1990 terminus location, yellow arrow the 2018 terminus location and purple dots the transient snowline. Arnesenbreen and Bereznikovbreen are glaciers in Svalbard on the east coast of Spitsbergen that in 1990 had a joint calving front near Kapp Murchison. Blaszczyk et al’s (2009) analysis identified 163 Svalbard glaciers that are tidewater with the total length calving …
December 22, 2018
Gandbreen Retreat and Lake Expansion, Svalbard
Gandbreen in 1990 and 2018 Landsat images. The red arrow indicates 1990 terminus location, yellow arrows the 2018 terminus location, and purple arrow a location where bedrock emerges. Gandbreen is a western outlet of the Edgeøya Ice Cap, Svalbard. This is a surging glacier, that has not had an observed surge. Deltabreen a larger adjacent glacier to the south has no observed either. Strozzi et al (2017) noted that the western outlet …
March 9, 2018
Aavatsmarkbreen, Svalbard More Calving & Less Accumulation a Deadly Recipe
Aavatsmarkbreen, Svalbard in 1987 and 2017 Landsat images. Red arrow 1987 terminus, yellow arrow 2017 terminus and purple dots the snowline. Aavatsmarkbreen is a tidewater glacier on the west side of Svalbard. The glacier is the fjord just south of Kongsfjord and Kronebreen Glacier. Nuth et al (2013) determined that the glacier area over the entire archipelago has decreased by an average of 80 km2 per year over the past 30 years, a …
Dean of Academic Affairs at Nichols College and Professor of Environmental Science at Nichols College in Massachusetts since 1989. Glaciologist directing the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project since 1984. This project monitors the mass balance and behavior of more glaciers than any other in North America.