You are browsing the archive for svalbard glacier retreat Archives - From a Glacier's Perspective.
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 …
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 …
November 9, 2017
Storbreen, Svalbard Major Retreat Opens New Fjord
Storbreen, Svalbard in 1990 and 2017 Landsat images. The red arrows indicate 1990 terminus , yellow arrow the 2017 terminus and purple dots the snowline in 1990. A recent snow storm has obscured the actual snowline in Aug 2017. Storbreen Glacier (ST) terminates on the north side of Hornsund in southern Svalbard. From 1990 to 2017 Storbreen has experienced a substantial retreat opening a new fjord and separating from Hornbreen …
June 29, 2017
Monacobreen Separates from Seligerbreen, Svalbard
Monacobreen Separation from Seligerbreen in 1999 and 2016 Landsat images. The red arrow is the 1999 terminus location and yellow arrow the 2016 terminus location. Moancobreen is a glacier that terminates at the head of Liefdefjorden , a branch of Woodfjorden in Spitsbergen, Svalbard. NW Spitsbergen is a region that has experienced extensive long term glacier thinning from 1965 to 2007 (Nuth et al, 2010). Svalbard is host to 163 tidewater glaciers with …
May 22, 2017
Besselsbreen Retreat Glacier Wide Thinning , Svalbard
Besselsbreen (B) and Augnebreen (A) comparison in a 1990 and 2016 Landsat image. Red arrows indicate terminus position in 1990, yellow arrow indicates terminus in 2016, purple arrows indicate locations of upglacier thinning from 1990 to 2016 and the yellow line indicates the width of the tongue on the eastern side of Besselsbreen to the medial moraine with Augnebreen Besselsbreen Glacier flows north to tidewater from the Barents Icecap on Barentsoya …
May 18, 2017
Hinlopenbreen, Svalbard 7 km Retreat 1990-2016.
Hinlopenbreen, Svalbard in 1990 and 2016 Landsat imagery. red arrow is 1990 terminus, yellow arrow is 2016 terminus,and Oslobreen is noted by Point O Hinlopenbreen is a large tidewater glacier in northern Svalbard. The glacier has a periodic history of surging, with the last surge occurring in 1970 (Nuth et al 2010). The glacier has the largest negative balance of -0.58 m/year from 1965-2005 (Nuth et al 2010). The …
December 20, 2016
Has Fridtjovbreen, Svalbard Surged for the last time?
Fidtjovbreen, Svalbard comparison in 1998 and 2016 Landsat imagery. Red arrow marks the 1998 terminus, yellow arrow the 2016 terminus and purple dots mark the snowline. The Yellow numbers indicate area of separation between glaciers. Pink arrows indicate areas on the upper glacier where thinning is exposing more bedrock. F=Fridtjovbreen, S=Sagabreen, G=Gronfjordbreen Fridtjovbreen, Svalbard, is a tidewater-terminating glacier that started a 7-year surge advance during the 1990’s. This central Spitsbergen …
May 16, 2016
Frostisen Ice Cap Svalbard, Ongoing Defrosting 1990-2015
Frostisen Ice Cap in 1990 and 2015 Landsat images. Red arrow is the 1990 terminus location, yellow arrow the 2015 terminus location. Purple arrows indicate thinning on the upper margin of the ice cap, and the letter A indicates an outcrop of rock emerging through the ice. Frostisen is an ice cap in Dickson Land of Central Svalbard. The World Glacier inventory of 1960 listed the area of the ice cap …
November 23, 2015
Paierbreen Rapid Calving Retreat, Svalbard
1990 and 2014 Landsat images indicating Paierbreen (P), Muhlbacherbreen (MU) and Hansbreen (H). The red arrow and red dots indicate the 1990 terminus location and yellow arrows and yellow dots the 2014 terminus location. The purple arrow indicates the location of a supraglacial lake that was persistent in the 1990’s but is no longer evident in 2013, 2014 and 2015. From 1990 to 2014 all four of the glaciers terminating …
October 19, 2015
Kronebreen and Kongsvegen, Svalbard Initiation of Glacier Separation 2015
Kronebreen terminus in 2013 (left) and 2015 (right), note the configuration change and separation initiation of Kronebreen and Kongsvegen at yellow arrow. Kronebreen is a large, (450 km2) tidewater glacier on the northwest coast of Svalbard terminating in a shared terminus with Kongsvegen at the head of Kongsfjorden. Changes in 2015 indicate the shared terminus will not continue. Luckman et al (2015) observed Kronebreen has a winter speed of 1.5–2 m/day, …
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.