Svalbard's glaciers getting thinner, faster
The glaciers of the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard are thinning at an accelerating rate, according to new research from a team of Welsh and Norwegian researchers. The study is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. The Svalbard islands lie in the Arctic Ocean, roughly midway between northern Norway and the North Pole. Around 60% of the islands' land area is glaciated. In this latest study, the researchers used airborne laser scanner data and digital photogrammetry to study the region's glaciers. They found that a number of glaciers in western Svalbard, ranging in size from 5 to 1,000 kilometres, are losing mass at an accelerating rate. 'These dramatic rates of thinning have occurred because climate warming has resulted in both higher temperatures and less snowfall,' explained Professor Tavi Murray, Head of Swansea University's Glaciology Group. 'And predictions are for even faster warming in the Arctic.' The Midtre Lovénbreen glacier, which has the best data coverage, has undergone increased rates of thinning since 1936, and the thinning rates from 2003 to 2005 are more than four times the average thinning rate for the period 1936 to 1962. Meanwhile Slakbreen's thinning rates for 1990 to 2003 were four times higher than those found for the period 1961 to 1977. A similar trend was found in Wedel Jarls Land, where the thinning rate of several glaciers was found to have doubled between the periods 1990 to 1996 and 1996 to 2002. 'Small glaciers like these only cover just a tiny fraction of the Earth,' commented Professor Murray. 'But many are melting rapidly, and they are one of the biggest contributors to sea level rise. These faster rates of melt imply an increased sea level contribution from the Svalbard glaciers.' Earlier this year an international team of scientists predicted that melting glaciers and ice caps will contribute more to sea level rise this century than the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. However, the thinning of the glaciers on Svalbard will have other consequences beside sea level rise. 'What concerns us are the environmental consequences if this acceleration of thinning continues at current rates,' said Professor Murray. 'For animals living this far north there is really nowhere colder for them to move to.' Professor Murray and her team will now switch their attention to the future stability of the massive Greenland ice sheet. 'Under the new Greenland Ice Margin Prediction, Stability and Evolution (GLIMPSE) project, our methods will be used to help understand the thinning of outlet glaciers there, some of which are thinning at rates of more than a metre a year,' Professor Murray explained. Earlier this year Professor Murray received the Polar Medal for her Arctic and Antarctic research, making her only the eighth woman to receive the award, which was established in 1857.
Countries
Norway, United Kingdom