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You are browsing the archive for iceland glacier retreat climate change Archives - From a Glacier's Perspective.

October 23, 2020

Tungnafellsjökull, Iceland Recession and Thinning 1999-2020

Tungnafellsjökull Ice Cap in 1999 and 2020 Landsat images indicating  terminus changes at three northern outlets, red arrows, and at four locations of bedrock exposure. Tungnafellsjökull Ice Cap is a ~32km2 ice cap located between Vatnajökull and Hofsjökull.  Gunnlaugsson (2016) reported on the mass balance changes of the Tungnafellsjökull Ice Cap and found it had lost 20 of its volume and 16% of its area from 1960-2013.  The ice cap …

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June 13, 2017

Torfajökull, Iceland Accumulation Zone Demise Drives Recession

Torfajökull in 1994, adn 2014 Landsat images.  Note the lack of retained snowpack in 2014 and emerging bedrock areas within icecap, purple arrows. Torfajökull is a small ice cap north of  Myrsdaljökull in Iceland.  The glacier’s lowest elevation is 750 m and the highest elevation is 1150 m.  This low of an elevation range in a climate driving higher snowlines places this type of ice cap at great risk for …

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October 26, 2015

Blágnípujökull, Iceland Retreat 1986-2015

Blágnípujökull comparison in Landsat imagery from 1986 and 2014.  Blágnípujökull is an outlet glacier on the western side of Hofsjökull. The Iceland Glaciological Society spearheads an annual terminus monitoring program led by Oddur Sigurðsson. This data set enabled an examination of glacier response to climate change in Iceland from 1930-1995 by Tómas Jóhannesson, Icelandic Meteorological Office and Sigurðsson (1998). This illustrated that Hofsjökull glaciers retreated little from 1950 to 1990, but …

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