Geometric Changes in a Tidewater Glacier in Svalbard during its Surge Cycle

• DOI: 10.1657/1938-4246-44.3.359
• Publication Date: 2012-08-21T06:29:41Z
• Authors: Tavi Murray; Timothy D. James; Yuri Macheret; Ivan Lavrentiev; Andrey Glazovsky; Helena Sykes
• Keywords: 13. Climate action; 01 natural sciences; 0105 earth and related environmental sciences

Abstract Fridtjovbreen, Svalbard, is a partially tidewater-terminating glacier that started a 7-year surge during the 1990s. Flow peaked during 1996 and no surge front was apparent. We use two pre-surge (1969 and 1990) and a post-surge (2005) digital elevation models (DEMs) together with a bed DEM to quantify volume changes and iceberg calving during the surge, calculate the changes in glacier hypsometry, and investigate the surge trigger. Between 1969 and 1990, the glacier lost 5% of its volume, retreated 530 m and thinned by up to 60 m in the lower elevations while thickening by up to 20 m in its higher elevations. During the surge, the reservoir zone thinned by up to 118 m and the receiving zone thickened by ∼140 m. Fridtjovbreen's ice divide moved ∼500 m, incorporating extra ice into its catchment. Despite this volume gain, during 1990–2005 the glacier lost ∼ 10% of its volume through iceberg calving and 7% through surface melt. The surge occurred in a climate of decreasing overall ice volume, so we n...