From Glaciated Landscape to Unglaciated Seascape: Transformation of the Hambergbreen–Hambergbukta Area, SE Spitsbergen, 1900–2017

Abstract

In 1900 the present Hambergbukta fjord did not exist and its basin was filled with the huge Hambergbreen glacier. The glacier then experienced progressive recession during a period of climate warming. The retreat of its front was perhaps the most spectacular expression of this recession. Eventually, a small bay named Hambergbukta appeared in 1936. By the 1950s the bay had become transformed into a new fjord 6 to 7 km long and 3 to 4 km wide. Its basin was progressively abandoned by the glacier and flooded by the sea. After 1961, the glacier surged and refilled the fjord basin with a fissured glacier tongue, and the fjord coastline became occupied by lateral ice-moraine ridges. Since 1970, the Hambergbreen glacier has undergone progressive recession again, resulting in the formation of the present-day Hambergbukta fjord. There exist significant differences in the landforms found between the northern and southern fjord coastlines: The former consists mainly of preserved lateral ice moraine ridges, whereas in the latter the ice cores have melted and low coastal plains have formed. This transformation continues to the present day. The Hamberbukta fjord has currently achieved its largest dimensions (including length), while being closed off from more inland areas by two tidewater glaciers: remnants of the Hambergbreen and Sykorabreen glaciers, the latter being a tributary glacier of the former in the 1980s.