Abstract
Werenskiold Glacier in the Isle of Spitsbergen is one of the polygons on which evaluation of the rate of glacier recession is performed. Location of the glacier front is precisely presented in the specialist literature since the mid. 30. of 20th century. Article presents results of studies about changes in the position of Werenskiold Glacier based on selected archival data and own research conducted in 2012-2013. The initial location of the glacier front was described by the topographical map in the scale 1:5000 elaborated in the year 1961 on the basis of data from the years 1957-1959 by the Polish Army Topographic Service. Moreover, as comparative data on location of glacier front in the later years there were applied results of photogrammetrical images from the year 1973 and a orthophotomap from 1990. These data together with the author's GPS measurements were transformed into the uniform coordinate system. Thus, prepared data made it possible to evaluate the rate of recession of Werenskiold Glacier front in the three epochs from the years 1957-2013. It was found that during the 56 years the glacier front was moved by ca. 1200 m, which gives the mean recession value of 25 m/year as well as the mean yearly loss of the glacier surface of the order of 5 ha.
Highlights
Werenskiold Glacier (Werenskioldbreen) is situated in the south-western part of Spitsbergen which is the largest island of the Svalbard Archipelago belonging to Norway
The research area is situated in the southwestern part of the island in Wedel Jarlsberg Land, not far from the entrance of Hornsund bay (Fig. 1)
The climate conditions in Spitsbergen are extremely variable and the access to the research area is largely limited in winter
Summary
Werenskiold Glacier (Werenskioldbreen) is situated in the south-western part of Spitsbergen which is the largest island of the Svalbard Archipelago belonging to Norway. The analytical elaboration is a topographic map in 1:25000 scale performed by a staff from the Silesian University in cooperation with the Norwegian Polar Institute in Tromsø, on the basis of aerial photos transformed to the central projection (orthophotomap; Fig. 3C). It was published in 2002 [7] but it was based on photographs from the year 1990. This effect is a result of narrowing of the glacier valley to the east and distancing or “escape” of the glacier from the lateral moraines located along the slopes of Angelfjellet and Jens-Erikfjellet
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