Contemporary changes in the area of glaciers in the western part of the Nordenskjold Land (Svalbard)

Climate warming in Svalbard, starting in the 1920s, caused a signifcant reduction in the mountain glaciation of the Nordenskjold Land. Te most extensive changes took place in the Western part of this territory due to the influence of the warm Spitsbergen current creating here the high temperature bac...

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Main Authors: R. A. Chernov, A. Ya. Muraviev
Format: Article
Language:Russian
Published: Nauka 2018-12-01
Series:Лëд и снег
Subjects:
Online Access:https://ice-snow.igras.ru/jour/article/view/509
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author R. A. Chernov
A. Ya. Muraviev
author_facet R. A. Chernov
A. Ya. Muraviev
author_sort R. A. Chernov
collection DOAJ
description Climate warming in Svalbard, starting in the 1920s, caused a signifcant reduction in the mountain glaciation of the Nordenskjold Land. Te most extensive changes took place in the Western part of this territory due to the influence of the warm Spitsbergen current creating here the high temperature background. In addition, due to elevation of the level of the climatic snow line, many glaciers have actually lost the area of accumulation. From 1936 to 2017, the area of glaciers in the Western part of this region decreased by 169.5 km2 or 49.5%. Large valley glaciers and numerous small glaciers have lost the greatest area. Te relative losses of the area of glaciers were revealed to be proportional to sizes of them. In average over the past 80 years, glaciers with areas smaller 0.5 km² reduced by 76%, while big glaciers with areas larger 5 km2 – by only 34%. At present, there are 152 glaciers with a total area of 172.73±9.31 km2 in the Western territory of the Land of Nordenskjold (West of the Bolterdalen valley). According to the aerial photography of 2008–2009, the total area of glaciation of the Land of Nordenskjold covers 428 km2. High present-day rates of the retreating of local glaciers are apparently caused by extreme thinning of glacial tongues. At the same time, shrinking of glaciers located in the West of the Peninsula turned out to be more intensive than that of glaciers in its center. Although the Eastern territories receive less precipitation than glaciers near the coast of the Greenland Sea, the Eastern glaciers were found to be more resistant to reduction due to higher locations of them.
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spelling doaj.art-507bb190ea4a490dabc5673397cee4862023-03-13T08:01:19ZrusNaukaЛëд и снег2076-67342412-37652018-12-0158446247210.15356/2076-6734-2018-4-462-472389Contemporary changes in the area of glaciers in the western part of the Nordenskjold Land (Svalbard)R. A. Chernov0A. Ya. Muraviev1Институт географии РАН, МоскваИнститут географии РАН, МоскваClimate warming in Svalbard, starting in the 1920s, caused a signifcant reduction in the mountain glaciation of the Nordenskjold Land. Te most extensive changes took place in the Western part of this territory due to the influence of the warm Spitsbergen current creating here the high temperature background. In addition, due to elevation of the level of the climatic snow line, many glaciers have actually lost the area of accumulation. From 1936 to 2017, the area of glaciers in the Western part of this region decreased by 169.5 km2 or 49.5%. Large valley glaciers and numerous small glaciers have lost the greatest area. Te relative losses of the area of glaciers were revealed to be proportional to sizes of them. In average over the past 80 years, glaciers with areas smaller 0.5 km² reduced by 76%, while big glaciers with areas larger 5 km2 – by only 34%. At present, there are 152 glaciers with a total area of 172.73±9.31 km2 in the Western territory of the Land of Nordenskjold (West of the Bolterdalen valley). According to the aerial photography of 2008–2009, the total area of glaciation of the Land of Nordenskjold covers 428 km2. High present-day rates of the retreating of local glaciers are apparently caused by extreme thinning of glacial tongues. At the same time, shrinking of glaciers located in the West of the Peninsula turned out to be more intensive than that of glaciers in its center. Although the Eastern territories receive less precipitation than glaciers near the coast of the Greenland Sea, the Eastern glaciers were found to be more resistant to reduction due to higher locations of them.https://ice-snow.igras.ru/jour/article/view/509арктикагорные ледникиземля норденшельдаснеговая линиясокращение ледников.
spellingShingle R. A. Chernov
A. Ya. Muraviev
Contemporary changes in the area of glaciers in the western part of the Nordenskjold Land (Svalbard)
Лëд и снег
арктика
горные ледники
земля норденшельда
снеговая линия
сокращение ледников.
title Contemporary changes in the area of glaciers in the western part of the Nordenskjold Land (Svalbard)
title_full Contemporary changes in the area of glaciers in the western part of the Nordenskjold Land (Svalbard)
title_fullStr Contemporary changes in the area of glaciers in the western part of the Nordenskjold Land (Svalbard)
title_full_unstemmed Contemporary changes in the area of glaciers in the western part of the Nordenskjold Land (Svalbard)
title_short Contemporary changes in the area of glaciers in the western part of the Nordenskjold Land (Svalbard)
title_sort contemporary changes in the area of glaciers in the western part of the nordenskjold land svalbard
topic арктика
горные ледники
земля норденшельда
снеговая линия
сокращение ледников.
url https://ice-snow.igras.ru/jour/article/view/509
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AT ayamuraviev contemporarychangesintheareaofglaciersinthewesternpartofthenordenskjoldlandsvalbard