A Small Glacier as an Index of Regional Mass Balance: Baby Glacier, Axel Heiberg Island, 1959–1992

Baby Glacier, Axel Heiberg Island, N.W.T., Canada is a small (0.6 km²), high-latitude (79°N), high-altitude (700–1200 m) glacier with a mass balance record extending from 1959–60 to the present. The record demonstrates shrinkage of the glacier, but a statistically significant trend is not evident. Correlations are strong between the mass balance of Baby Glacier and that of the nearby and much larger White Glacier, and also those of even larger, more distant glaciers. Thus programmes of measurement on small, simple ice bodies such as Baby Glacier can be representative of a large region. However, inter-annual changes are more accentuated for Baby Glacier. Baby Glacier does not meet all of the usual criteria for a representative glacier, but it straddles the regional equilibrium zone, a fact which helps to offset the disadvantages of its small size and limited altitudinal range. The equilibrium zone deserves to be an important focus for studies of high-arctic mass balance, with the aim of facilitating future measurement programmes which will rely on satellite remote sensing.     

Study of annual mass balance(2011–2013) of Rikha Samba Glacier,Hidden Valley,Mustang, Nepal

Although Himalayan glaciers are of particular interest in terms of future water supplies, regional climate changes, and sea-level rises, little is known about them due to lack of reliable and consistent data. There is a need for monitoring these glaciers to bridge this knowledge gap and to provide field measurements necessary to calibrate and validate the results from different remote sensing operations. Therefore, glaciological observations have been carried out by the Cryosphere Monitoring Project(CMP) since September 2011 on Rikha Samba Glacier in Hidden valley, Mustang district in western Nepal in order to study its annual mass balance. This paper presents the first results of that study. There are 10 glaciers in Hidden Valley, named G1, G2, G3, up to G10. Of these, G5 is the Rikha Samba Glacier, which has the largest area(5.37 km2) in this valley and the highest and lowest altitudes(6,476 and 5,392 m a.s.l., respectively). The glacier mass balance discussed in this paper was calculated using the glaciological method and the equilibrium line altitude(ELA). The glacier showed a negative annual point mass balance along the longitudinal profile of its lower part from September 10, 2011 to October 3, 2012. Stake measurements from October 4, 2012 to September 30, 2013 indicated a negative areal average of annual mass balance-0.088±0.019 m w.e. for the whole glacier. Based on these observations, the ELA of the Rikha Samba Glacier is estimated at 5,800 m a.s.l. in 2013. This negative balance may be due to rising air temperatures in the region, which have been incrementally rising since 1980 accompanied by little or no significant increase in precipitation in that period. The negative mass balance confirms the general shrinking trend of the glacier.     

Analysis of Difference Between Direct and Geodetic Mass Balance Measurements at South Cascade Glacier, Washington

Net mass balance has been measured since 1958 at South Cascade Glacier using the 'direct method,' e.g. area averages of snow gain and firn and ice loss at stakes. Analysis of cartographic vertical photography has allowed measurement of mass balance using the 'geodetic method' in 1970, 1975, 1977, 1979–80, and 1985–97. Water equivalent change as measured by these nearly independent methods should give similar results. During 1970–97, the direct method shows a cumulative balance of about −15 m, and the geodetic method shows a cumulative balance of about −22 m. The deviation between the two methods is fairly consistent, suggesting no gross errors in either, but rather a cumulative systematic error. It is suspected that the cumulative error is in the direct method because the geodetic method is based on a non-changing reference, the bedrock control, whereas the direct method is measured with reference to only the previous year's summer surface. Possible sources of mass loss that are missing from the direct method are basal melt, internal melt, and ablation on crevasse walls. Possible systematic measurement errors include under-estimation of the density of lost material, sinking stakes, or poorly represented areas.     

The change of Ningchan River Glacier No. 3 at Lenglongling, east Qilian Mountain, China

In July, 2009, we investigated the Ningchan River Glacier No. 3. A control network was established around the glacier and the expedition used a GPS-RTK to measure glacial area, terminal and surface altitude, and used an EKKO GPR to measure glacier thickness. We used a topographic map based on 1972 aerial photo, two TM images in 1995, 2009, and GPS-RTK data in 2009, to analyze the change of the Ningchan River Glacier No. 3 since 1972. Through analysis we found this glacier has been seriously shrinking over the past 37 years. The glacier terminal retreated about 6%, the area was reduced about 13.1%, the volume was reduced about 35.3%, and glacier shrinkage is mainly in the form of thinning. Glacier average thickness reduced from 36.8 m in 1972, to 27.4 m in 2009. Meteorological data around the study area shows that this region in recent decades has undergone differential warming which is the main reason for rapid glacier shrinkage.     

An analysis of short-term albedo variations at Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland

Abstract An analysis of ten‐minute albedo variations, recorded on Haut Glacier d'Arolla, Switzerland, over an 11 day period in the 1999 ablation season is presented. Most of the short‐term (<1 day) albedo variability is caused by variations in cloud cover, while solar zenith angle variations in the range 25° to 75° are of minor importance, probably due to the predominantly cloudy conditions during the measurement period. A new method to calculate albedo variation as a function of cloud cover is developed. Short‐term albedo variations are expressed by the ratio of the measured albedo to the daily albedo ‘minimum’, defined as the albedo under cloud‐free conditions when the solar zenith angle is <50°. Variations in cloud cover are quantified by the ratio of the measured incoming shortwave radiation flux to the theoretical direct‐beam shortwave radiation flux. The resulting relationships are successful, explaining 83% and 87–90% of short‐term albedo variation on snow and ice respectively, and may be incorporated into albedo parameterizations already used in numerical energy balance melt models, without the need for additional data. Simulations with a glacier energy balance model suggest that melt rates are overestimated by between 1 and 3 mm water equivalent per day if a correction is not made for the increase in albedo under cloudy conditions. Other causes of albedo variation are identified and evidence is found for the removal of fine debris from the glacier surface by intense rainfall, leading to an albedo increase. The implications for energy balance models and satellite‐derived albedo measurements are discussed.     

Summer Water Balance Characteristics of Koryto Glacier, Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia

The daily water balance for the drainage basin of Koryto Glacier, Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia, was calculated during the period from August to September 2000. The result shows that 14×10⁶ m³ of meltwater and 2×10⁶ m³ of rainwater entered the basin, while 26×10⁶ m³ of water drained from the basin through proglacial streams. Thus, about ?9×10⁶ m³ of water storage reduction occurred in the basin. Vertical displacements of the glacier surface showed that the volume change due to contraction of subglacial cavities was nearly 20% of the total storage change. The remaining fraction of water storage during the period is thought to be stored in englacial and supraglacial locations. The estimate of water balance components in the early ablation season in 2000 indicates that meltwater was already stored within the glacier before the spring, even during the previous year, and that the stored water drained through the ablation season.     

西伯利亚北极河流有机碳输出特征及影响要素

河流有机碳输出是北极碳循环的重要组分,对气候变化十分敏感。本文利用ArcticGRO的径流及有机碳数据,通过数理统计分析等方法,对2004—2017年间俄罗斯西伯利亚地区的鄂毕河、叶尼塞河和勒拿河有机碳输出进行研究。结果显示：西伯利亚3大河流的年均有机碳输出总量约23 Tg,其中溶解有机碳（DOC）输出约18.55 Tg,占北极地区50%以上,接近颗粒有机碳（POC）输出的4倍。2009—2017年间的年均DOC输出量较1999—2008年存在较大差异,鄂毕河增加18%,叶尼塞河下降13%,而勒拿河增加了近70%。春、夏两季有机碳输出总量占全年85%以上,春季为有机碳输出高峰期,而在鄂毕河流域春、夏季贡献率相当。各流域河流有机碳输出特征不同且具有季节性变化,主要受径流、冻土及人类活动等的影响。其中,DOC输出总量在年际与季节性变化特征上均与径流变化呈显著正相关,随径流增加DOC浓度也相应增大;而多年冻土也因类型及分布差异对河流DOC与POC具有不同程度的影响。研究气候变化下的北极河流有机碳输出特征及影响要素,有助于深入理解北极河流有机碳输出对气候及环境变化的综合响应,为揭示气候变化下的北极碳循环过程奠定基础。     

Rapid 20th century environmental change on northeastern Baffin Island,Arctic Canada inferred from a multi-proxy lacustrine record

The Arctic has a disproportionately large response to changes in radiative forcing of climate, and arctic lacustrine ecosystems respond sensitively to these changes. The goal of this research is to generate high-resolution climate records for the past two millennia using multiple proxies in order to place 20th and 21st century climate and environmental change into a long-term context. We use a ¹⁴C- and ²¹⁰Pb-dated surface core from Lake CF8 on northeastern Baffin Island, Arctic Canada to generate a high-resolution multiproxy reconstruction of climate and environmental change. Throughout the late Holocene, primary productivity in Lake CF8 was low, but increased almost 20-fold in the past 200 years. Insect (Chironomidae) assemblages also show dramatic changes since 1950 AD, with cold stenothermous chironomid taxa disappearing from the record altogether. These changes in productivity and chironomid assemblages are unprecedented in the past 5,000 years. The dramatic ecological shifts that occurred at Lake CF8 have also been observed elsewhere in the Arctic, and will likely continue at ever-increasing rates as anthropogenic inputs of green house gases continue to cause climate warming and enhanced lacustrine primary production.     

The mass-balance characteristics and sensitivities to climate variables of Laohugou Glacier No. 12, western Qilian Mountains, China

Due to global warming, glaciers on the Tibetan Plateau(TP) are experiencing widespread shrinkage; however, the mechanisms controlling glacier variations across the TP are still rather unclear, especially on the northeastern TP. In this study, a physically based, distributed surface-energy and mass-balance model was used to simulate glacier mass balance forced by meteorological data. The model was applied to Laohugou No. 12 Glacier, western Qilian Mountains, China, during2010~2012. The simulated albedo and mass balance were validated and calibrated by in situ measurements. The simulated annual glacier-wide mass balances were-385 mm water equivalent(w.e.) in 2010/2011 and-232 mm w.e. in 2011/2012,respectively. The mean equilibrium-line altitude(ELA) was 5,015 m a.s.l., during 2010~2012, which ascended by 215 m compared to that in the 1970 s. The mean accumulation area ratio(AAR) was 39% during the two years. Climatic-sensitivity experiments indicated that the change of glacier mass balance resulting from a 1.5 °C increase in air temperature could be offset by a 30% increase in annual precipitation. The glacier mass balance varied linearly with precipitation, at a rate of130 mm w.e. per 10% change in total precipitation.     

Inferences concerning climatic change from a deeply frozen lake on Rundfjeld,Ellesmere Island,Arctic Canada

A small lake on top of Rundfjeld, central Ellesmere Island, at an elevation of approximately 830 m, is frozen to the bottom, and the thickness of lake ice present is at least 5.45 m. Under present climatic conditions the lake does not thaw to the bottom, even during the warmest summers; i.e., 3 to 4 m of ice still floored the deepest part of the lake in mid-August 1987. A radiocarbon age determination via accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) on a sample of the filamentous green alga Mougeotia sp., recovered from the lake ice at a depth below 4 m, gave 5730±70 BP (TO-530). The date indicates that the lake was probably completely open for an unspecified period of time during the warmest part of the Hypsithermal Interval. This situation is in agreement with data derived from a variety of other sources in Ellesmere Island and adjacent Greenland.     

Field observations of recent transgression on northern and eastern Melville Island, western Canadian Arctic Archipelago

After ~ 11,000 years of glacio-isostatically induced forced regression, geomorphological evidence indicates that the coastline of eastern Melville Island, western Canadian Arctic Archipelago, is now being transgressed. Recently developed coastal features associated with this transgression include: drowned gullies and small estuaries, barriers and lagoons, barrier islands, erosional notches, backstepping beaches, and drowned tundra vegetation and vehicle tracks dating from the 1970s. We mainly attribute this relative sea-level rise to the eastward migration of a peripheral crustal forebulge. Furthermore, the reported transgression also includes a component from recent eustatic sea-level rise during the 20th century. Recent earthquakes recorded in the Gustav-Lougheed Arch Seismic Zone located in Byam Martin Channel, 70 km east of Melville Island, suggest that neotectonics could also be involved in local relative sea-level adjustments. Other factors associated with global warming, especially the formation of an earlier shore-ice lead coupled with increased storm activity might also be responsible for some of the coastal changes. Our study indicates that the current zero isobase, separating areas of net transgression from those of net regression, is now located off the east coast of the island. Our field observations support recent glacio-isostatic modelling that shows the island is presently undergoing a transgression.     

Arctic freshwater ostracods from modern periglacial environments in the Lena River Delta (Siberian Arctic,Russia): geochemical applications for palaeoenvironmental reconstructions

The aim of this study is to describe ostracods from freshwater habitats in the Siberian Arctic in order to estimate the present-day relationships between the environmental setting and the geochemical properties of ostracod calcite. A special focus is on the element ratios (Mg/Ca, Sr/Ca), and the stable isotope composition (δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C), in both ambient waters and ostracod calcite. The most common species are Fabaeformiscandona pedata and F. harmsworthi with the highest frequency in all studied waters. Average partition coefficients D(Sr) of F. pedata are 0.33 ± 0.06 (1σ) in females, and 0.32 ± 0.06 (1σ) in males. A near 1:1 relationship of δ¹⁸O was found, with a mean shift of Δ_mean = 2.2‰ ± 0.5 (1σ) to heavier values in ostracod calcite of F. pedata as compared to ambient waters. The shift is not dependent on δ¹⁸O_water, and is caused by metabolic (vital) and temperature effects. Temperature-dependence is reflected in the variations of this shift. For ostracod calcite of F. pedata a vital effect as compared to inorganic calcite in equilibrium was quantified with 1.4‰. Results of this study are valuable for the palaeoenvironmental interpretation of geochemical data of fossil ostracods from permafrost deposits.     

近600年来北极与中国气候变化的对比

A compilation of paleoclimate records from lake sediments, trees, ice cores, and historical documents provide a view of China and Arctic environmental changes in the last 600 years. Many of these changes have also been identified in sedimentary and geochemical signatures in deep-sea sediment cores from the North Atlantic Ocean, Arctic and Greenland and ice cores from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, confirming the linkage of environmental changes of different time scales between the Arctic and China. It is shown that the changes of precipitation, temperature and sea ice cover in Arctic were correlated with climate changes in China. This paper also developed a comparative research on the climate changes between Arctic and China both during the Little Ice Age (LIA) and the instrumental observation period. Cycles and trend of temperature variations during LIA and temperature and precipitation during the instrumental observation period are performed. We found some similarities and differences of environmental changes between Arctic and China.     

The Impact Of Extreme Summer Melt on Net Accumulation of an Avalanche Fed Glacier,as Determined by Ground‐Penetrating Radar

Glacier mass balance is more sensitive to warming than cooling, but feedbacks related to the exposure of previously buried firn and ice in very warm years is not generally considered in sensitivity studies. A ground‐penetrating radar survey in the accumulation area of Rolleston Glacier, New Zealand shows that five years of previous net accumulation was removed by melt from parts of the glacier above the long‐term equilibrium line altitude during a single negative mass balance year. Rolleston Glacier receives a large amount of accumulation from snow avalanches, which may temporarily buffer it from climate warming by providing additional mass that has accumulated at higher elevations, effectively increasing the elevation range of the glacier. However, glaciers reliant on avalanche input may have high sensitivity to climatic variations because the extra mass is concentrated on a small part of the glacier, and small variations in avalanche input could have a large impact on overall glacier accumulation. Further research is needed to better estimate the amount and spatial distribution of accumulation by avalanche in order to quantify the climate sensitivity of small avalanche‐fed glaciers.     

A 300 year record of environmental change from Lake Tuborg, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada

Lamination thickness measurements in sediments from Lake Tuborg, northern Ellesmere Island, Canada document an increase in high-energy hydrologic discharge events from ∼1865 to 1962. The timing of these events corresponds with evidence for an increase in the amount of melt on the adjacent Agassiz Ice Cap, as recorded in ice cores. There appears to have been a non-linear change in depositional energy resulting from a dramatic increase in Agassiz meltwater discharge, particularly after ∼1908. A strong correlation between the Lake Tuborg varve thickness record, the amount of melting on the Agassiz Ice Cap and Eureka 900 mb air temperature records suggests that changes in the height of the freezing level in the atmosphere have affected the extent of summer melting on the Agassiz Ice Cap, leading to high volume discharge events and associated sediment flux to Lake Tuborg.     

A comparison of climate changes between Arctic and China in the last 600 years

A compilation of paleoclimate records from lake sediments, trees, ice cores, and historical documents provide a view of China and Arctic environmental changes in the last 600 years. Many of these changes have also been identified in sedimentary and geochemical signatures in deep-sea sediment cores from the North Atlantic Ocean, Arctic and Greenland and ice cores from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, confirming the linkage of environmental changes of different time scales between the Arctic and China. It is shown that the changes of precipitation, temperature and sea ice cover in Arctic were correlated with climate changes in China. This paper also developed a comparative research on the climate changes between Arctic and China both during the Little Ice Age (LIA) and the instrumental observation period. Cycles and trend of temperature variations during LIA and temperature and precipitation during the instrumental observation period are performed. We found some similarities and differences of environmental changes between Arctic and China.     

中国西部大陆性冰川与海洋性冰川物质平衡变化及其对气候响应——以乌源1号冰川和帕隆94号冰川为例

为认识全球变暖背景下中国西部大陆性冰川与海洋性冰川物质平衡变化及其对气候响应,本研究以天山乌鲁木齐河源1号冰川和藏东南帕隆94号冰川为例,结合大西沟与察隅站气象资料,对1980 — 2015年两条冰川的物质平衡变化特征及差异进行了分析。结果表明：36 a来乌源1号冰川与帕隆94号冰川物质平衡总体上均呈下降趋势,累积物质平衡达-17102与-8159 mm w.e.,相当于冰川厚度减薄19与9.01 m,且分别于1996、2004年左右发生突变。同期两条冰川所处区域年均温呈显著上升趋势,而降水量却表现出不同的变化态势;二者年内气温分配相仿,但降水分配差异较大。初步分析认为气温上升是导致乌源1号冰川与帕隆94号冰川物质亏损的主要原因,冰川区气温和降水变化幅度的差异和地性因子（坡度、冰川面积）的不同使得乌源1号冰川对气候变化响应的敏感性高于帕隆94号冰川,由于目前海洋性冰川物质平衡监测时段相对较短,为深入研究中国西部冰川物质平衡变化及过程仍需加强对冰川的持续观测。     

Foreword to the special issue: climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability in the Arctic

The Arctic climate is changing, carrying wide-ranging implications for indigenous and non-indigenous inhabitants, businesses, industry and government across the circumpolar region. The latest scientific assessments indicate that change is happening faster than previously thought, and that the Arctic will continue to experience dramatic climate change in the future. This special edition of Polar Research brings together nine papers on climate change impacts, adaptation and vulnerability in the Arctic, providing important insights on the nature of the risks and opportunities posed by climate change in the circumpolar region, highlighting opportunities for policy response and providing insights on how to conduct effective climate change research with Arctic communities.