Abstract
Glacier mass balance measurements, reconstructions and modeling are the precondition for assessing glacier sensitivity to regional climatic fluctuations. This paper presents new glaciological and geodetic mass balance data of Austre Grønfjordbreen located in the western part of Nordenskiöld Land in Central Spitsbergen. The average annual mass balance from 2014 to 2019 was −1.59 m w.e. The geodetic mass balance from 2008 to 2017 was −1.34 m w.e. The mass balance was also reconstructed by the temperature-index model from 2006 to 2020 and by spatially-distributed energy-balance models for 2011–2015 and 2019. We found a cumulative mass balance of −21.62 m w.e. over 2006–2020. The calculated mass-balance sensitivity to temperature was −1.04 m w.e. °C−1, which corresponds to the highest glacier mass balance sensitivity among Svalbard glaciers. Sensitivity to precipitation change was 0.10 m w.e. for a 10% increase in precipitation throughout the balance year. Comparing the results of the current study with other glacier mass balance assessments in Svalbard, we found that Austre Grønfjordbreen loses mass most rapidly due to its location, which is mostly influenced by the warm West Spitsbergen Current, small area and low elevation range.
Highlights
Glaciers are widely acknowledged as indicators of climate change and are currently among the major contributors to sea level rise [1]
The main purpose of this study is to present the new data of surface mass balance of Austre Grønfjordbreen and to update previous mass balance assessments [14,15] by the traditional glaciological approach and geodetic method as well as to reconstruct the time series of annual mass balance by two methods
Our results indicate that modeled and measured mass balances were in good agreement, m w.e
Summary
Glaciers are widely acknowledged as indicators of climate change and are currently among the major contributors to sea level rise [1]. Winter precipitation and summer temperatures both have an influence on the amount of snow accumulated and the amount of snow and ice lost by melting; changes in glacier mass are linked to changes in climate [2,3]. Global mass loss of all glaciers outside the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets by 2100 relative to 2015 averaged over 25 General. The Svalbard archipelago is located in one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth and undergoes an increase in average summer temperature and duration of melt period along with the impacts of early summer and late autumn rainfalls. Glaciers cover ~57% of the land area of Svalbard [6] and, if melted, could potentially contribute 17 ± 2 mm to global sea-level rise [7]
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