‘Little Ice Age’ glacier extent and subsequent retreat in Svalbard archipelago

Abstract

The influence of the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA) on the glaciers of Svalbard has been well documented for a long time. This paper presents new data on the LIA maximum glacier extent and retreat by aerial photo interpretation and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools. We also make cartography where all results are shown in greater detail. During the LIA maximum, we find that the glacier area of Svalbard was 38,871 km², and since then, the total glacier area loss in the archipelago has been 5096 km² (13.1%). The total current glaciated area from the late 2000s is 33,775 km². Since the LIA, the glaciers in the main islands of the archipelago have retreated by 12.8% in Spitsbergen, 13.4% in Nordaustlandet, and 16.7% in Barentsøya and Edgeøya. The analysis of the LIA maximum glacier extent in the different major drainage basins shows important differences; about 100 years ago, some glacier basins were more than 19% larger in the western and central regions of Spitsbergen, or even more than 23% larger in southern Nordaustlandet, while other small basins found in the northeast of this island were barely 1% larger. The greatest retreats are found in the tidewater glaciers, more variable and responsive to the water temperature changes, water dynamics, and bathymetry. In addition, the advances at some of these glaciers may correspond with surges, which means that the rapid retreats are caused by the post-surging phases as well as climate. The conclusions of this research point out an important ice loss in all of Svalbard since the LIA and the high vulnerability of this Arctic archipelago to global warming.

Keywords

aerial photo interpretation GIS glacier retreat ‘Little Ice Age’surges Svalbard tidewater glacier

Introduction

The glaciers of Svalbard have been intensively studied for a long time. Much of this research focused on the geomorphology and the deglaciation after the ‘Little Ice Age’ (LIA; e.g. Bate, 2008; Lønne and Lyså, 2005; Lukas et al., 2005; Rachlewicz et al., 2007; Rasmussen, 2006; Ziaja, 1994) or on the glacier retreat during the last decades (e.g. Ai et al., 2013; Bartkowiak et al., 2004; König et al., 2014; Lapazarán et al., 2013; Navarro et al., 2005; Pälli et al., 2003; Sobota and Lankauf, 2010; Ziaja, 2001, 2005; Ziaja and Pipała, 2007). The investigations show the importance of the LIA cooling period in Svalbard. However, the total glaciated area during the LIA for the whole archipelago – or its main islands – has not been thoroughly quantified so far. This paper attempts to present new quantitative data on the extent of the Svalbard glaciers during the LIA by using aerial photo interpretation, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools, and cartography, presenting an estimate of the total glaciated area loss since then. Knowledge of these values may help to understand the effects of the global warming on the Svalbard archipelago.

Study area: Geographic and climatic setting

Svalbard is a Norwegian high Arctic archipelago in the Arctic Ocean, with similar latitude to northern Greenland. The main islands – Spitsbergen, Prins Karls Forland, Nordaustlandet, Barentsøya, Edgeøya, Kong Karls Land, and Kvitøya – are located within 74–81°N and 10–35°E (Figure 1). The total area is ca. 62,000 km², of which 37,705 km² correspond to Spitsbergen, the largest island. Mountains, glaciers of different sizes, and some lowlands characterize the geography of the archipelago. The highest altitude is Newtontoppen, at 1717 m a.s.l. Svalbard has been described as a ‘geologist paradise’ due to the exposure of the complete geologic sequence from the Precambrian to the Quaternary (Hisdal, 1985).

Figure 1.

The Svalbard archipelago within the North Atlantic and European context (note the map distortion).

The climate of Svalbard is the result of its high latitude and the strong influence of the warm West Spitsbergen Current, a branch of the North Atlantic Current, which makes the climatic conditions much milder than expected for such latitudes. The temperature varies significantly across the archipelago. On average, the temperatures in the coldest month, February, are between −13°C and −20°C, and the warmest between 3°C and 7°C in July (Førland et al., 1997, 2011); the northern parts of Spitsbergen are about 5°C colder in winter than the south, and only 3°C in summer. Currently, the mean annual air temperature (MAAT) is about −5°C close to sea level in central Spitsbergen (Humlum et al., 2003). Precipitation also shows a large spatial variability across the archipelago, with a clear gradient from west to east. At sea level, in western Spitsbergen it might be as low as 190 mm/yr, while in the eastern and southeastern it can reach 1200 mm/yr (Hagen et al., 1993; Hisdal, 1985; Torkildsen, 1984), due to the effect of the low-pressure systems from the Barents Sea (Hagen et al., 1993). In Spitsbergen, the snow cover lasts from the beginning of October until June (Eckerstorfer et al., 2008; Martín-Moreno and Serrano Cañadas, 2013). Permafrost is continuous, with maximum thickness up to 500 m (Humlum, 2005; Humlum et al., 2003; Liestøl, 1980).

Global warming is amplified in the Arctic region (Pithan and Mauritsen, 2014), in a much more pronounced way than in mid latitudes (Symon et al., 2005; IPCC, 2007, 2013). Svalbard displays also this unique climatic high sensitivity (Lamb, 1977; Houghton et al., 2001; Humlum et al., 2003). For instance, during the 1920s, the mean MAAT at sea level changed from −9°C to −4°C, which possibly was ‘the most pronounced increase in surface air temperature documented anywhere on the planet during the observational period’; the temperature stabilized during 1940s and 1950s decreased by 5°C from 1957 to 1968 (Humlum et al., 2003) and started to increase gradually in the end of the 20th century and beginning of 21st, experiencing the greatest temperature rise in Europe during the last three decades (Nordli et al., 2014).

Glaciers of Svalbard

In Svalbard, there are currently cataloged 1668 glaciers, covering 33,775 km², which represents ~57% of the land area of the archipelago (Nuth et al., 2013). Other researches place 1567 glaciers and a total glacier extent of 33,608 km² (Pfeffer et al., 2014). The minor discrepancies between the inventories are due to the inclusion/exclusion of snow patches, glacierets, and so on. The geometry of the glaciated areas is so complex that the ice masses of Svalbard have been described as ‘transection glaciers’ (Ahlmann, 1948). Several types of glaciers are found. Many of them are small cirque and valley glaciers in the mountains of the western and central parts of Spitsbergen, delimited by mountain ridges, ice divides, nunataks, and flow lines, but also ice caps – located in the more glacier-favorable areas of eastern Spitsbergen, Edgeøya, Barentsøya, and Nordaustlandet – divided in various basins by ice divides which mostly flow and calve to the ocean (Błaszczyk et al., 2009) but sometimes end on land. In the strandflats of Prins Karls Forland, some piedmont glaciers are present (Hagen et al., 1993). The thickest measured ice is found to be 619 ± 13 m in the northernmost part of Austre Torellbreen (Spitsbergen; Navarro et al., 2014), 615 ± 16 m in Nordenskiöldbreen (Spitsbergen; Van Pelt et al., 2013), and 587 m in Austfonna (Nordauslandet; Navarro et al., 2016). The present volume of Svalbard glaciers has been estimated in 6700 ± 835 km³, or 17 ± 2 mm of sea-level equivalent (Martín-Español et al., 2015).

The equilibrium line altitude (ELA) varies greatly upon the location within the archipelago. While in the inland parts of Spitsbergen the ELA is more than 800 m a.s.l. due to the continentality, in the areas with highest precipitation it is just ~300 m a.s.l. (Hagen et al., 1993). Surge glaciers are very common in Svalbard (Dowdeswell et al., 1991; Hagen et al., 1993; Jiskoot et al., 2000; Lefauconnier and Hagen, 1991; Liestøl, 1969). A surge is a sudden transfer of ice mass from the upper to the lower part of the glacier, with ice velocity increasing by at least an order of magnitude. In Svalbard, velocities up to 20–30 m/day have been registered during surges (Liestøl, 1969). The occurrence of surges can obscure the study of the glacier front positions and deglaciation, as we will discuss later.

Many of the small and mid-size glaciers are cold or polythermal, with the upper layer of the ablation zone made up of cold ice with temperatures below 0°C, and, in the case of land-terminating glaciers, with ice basal temperatures at the glacier snout often below 0°C and partly frozen to the ground. In general, the ice below the firn layer of the accumulation zone is at the melting point due to latent heat release from refreezing of meltwater and the thermal insulation by the snow-firn layer. However, some of the smallest glaciers are fully cold, with temperatures of the whole ice mass below the freezing point (Liestøl, 1993). In Svalbard, both types of glaciers – cold and land-terminating polythermal glaciers – are characterized by very low velocities (Hagen et al., 2003).

Tidewaters glaciers are present in about 20% of the Svalbard archipelago coastline (Dowdeswell and Forsberg, 1992), and more than 60% of the glaciated area of Svalbard corresponds to tidewater glaciers (Błaszczyk et al., 2009). Tidewaters glaciers end either in marine deep waters or in relatively shallow fjord waters. According to the same source, 14 glaciers have retreated from the sea during the last 30–40 years, while 11 have advanced from the land into the water. In Svalbard, 43% of the tidewater glaciers are classified as surge-type (Błaszczyk et al., 2009).

The glacier net mass balance has been mostly negative during 30 years of observations (Hagen et al., 2003). Many ice masses presumably had ‘stable negative mass balance since about 1920’ (Lefauconnier and Hagen, 1990). According to some observations of front positions (Błaszczyk et al., 2009), there has been a general retreat in Svalbard for the last 80 years. Later investigations show significant thinning at most of the smaller glacier fronts (Nuth et al., 2010). The Svalbard geodetic mass balance was considered the most negative in the Arctic (Nuth et al., 2013). Subsequent researches (Gardner et al., 2013) state that Svalbard glaciers have been, so far, only slightly sensitive to recent climate warming but that this has been predicted to change in the near future especially for land-terminating glaciers (Möller et al., 2016), and most notably for the southern half of the archipelago (Lang et al., 2015).

The LIA in Svalbard

The LIA was a cooling period from the 14th to the 19th century, when the temperature dropped between 0.6°C and 2.0°C and the glaciers advanced, affecting mostly – but not only – the North Atlantic region (Grove, 2004; Mann, 2002). It has been estimated that in Svalbard the temperature rose by almost 5°C since the end of the LIA (e.g. Dahl and Nesje, 1994; Lankauf, 1999; Lyså and Lønne, 2001; Svendsen and Mangerud, 1997; Szczucinski et al., 2009). In Svalbard, the LIA corresponds essentially to the maximum glacier extent of the Holocene (Błaszczyk et al., 2009; Cwiakala et al., 2015; Humlum et al., 2005; Snyder et al., 2000). In some areas of Spitsbergen Island, glaciers were reduced or even not present during the Holocene before the LIA (Snyder et al., 2000).

The major glacier advances during the LIA have been dated in 1890–1900 (Glasser and Hambrey, 2006; Mangerud and Svendsen, 1990), 1900 (Snyder et al., 2000), 1910 (Humlum et al., 2005), and even 1920 (Svendsen and Mangerud, 1997), considerably later than for many of the mountain glacier regions of the world. This could be explained by the delayed climatic sensitivity of many Svalbard glaciers and their relatively slow ice flow velocities (Humlum et al., 2003). The fresh sedimentary landforms and the low rates of erosion facilitate the reconstruction of the position of glaciers.

Data sources and methodology

We have used aerial photo interpretation, GIS – ArcGis v.10.2 software tool – and the Norwegian Polar Topographic Map series (NPTS) in GIS format (basisdata_NP_Basiskart_Svalbard_WMTS_25833.lyr, Norwegian Polar Institute (NPT), 2014b) as a basemap reference. In addition, satellite images, orthophotographs, terrestrial photographs, and GIS-compatible information have been also exploited from a variety of sources:

Shapefiles of glacier area in 1936, 1938, 1960, 1966, 1969–1971, 1990, and 2001–2010 (GLIMS archives at the National Snow Center and Ice Data Center are available through the CryoClim data portal, http://www.cryoclim.net);

Shapefile of archipelago boundary (S100 Kartdata, Norwegian Polar Institute, 2014a);

Shapefile of moraines (Norwegian Polar Institute, 2014b);

Different sources via web map server (WMS): satellite images and orthophotos (Norwegian Polar Institute, 2014b);

Additional geolocation information provided by terrestrial photographs (NPI, TopoSvalbard, 2014a);

Digital Elevation Model (GRID) of Svalbard (Norwegian Polar Institute, 2014b) with 20 × 20 m cell size resolution.

Photo interpretation and digitalizing tasks were made with direct linkage into a GIS interface (ArcGis 10.2) using all information available via WMS and shape files. LIA was estimated with a detailed analysis of imagery and past and present position of glacier fronts and moraines. Shapes, as relevant, have been edited and redefined by photo interpretation. We have followed the recommended accuracy by the Norwegian Polar Institute (up of a scale 1:10,000). However, the photo interpretation was tested with a detailed analysis of terrestrial photographs (online map of Svalbard, Norwegian Polar Institute, 2014b).

As a reference for calculation of glacier surface during the LIA, we have used the glaciated area from Nuth et al. (2013) and the basin numeric references of Hagen et al. (1993) in Glacier Atlas of Svalbard and Jan Mayen. We have chosen the surface from 2013 by the availability of the major drainage basins areas. The error estimation in the total glaciated area has been studied by König et al. (2014), which gave an estimated relative error of the most recent Svalbard glacier inventory typically better than 5% and 8% as the upper bound. Hydrological analyses of ArcGis v. 10.2 provided a tool to calculate basin areas. We have generated automatic basin areas from Digital Terrain Model (Norwegian Polar Institute, 2014b) and Flowdirection Model with GIS algorithms. Basin areas were edited, corrected, and coded with numerical references to Hagen et al. (1993). The database was designed with two information fields in numeric format: major drainage basin – 11 – and secondary drainage basin – 111. LIA shapes and glacier surface from 2000 to 2010 (König et al., 2014) were intersected to obtain a single database. From this information, we have considered the ice surface (km²) which has allowed us to calculate the percentage of the area that has changed since the LIA.

We have also used historical sources, which have been very useful to compare the size of the glaciers and position of the fronts. Complementary to the desktop work, we have carried out many field observations in different locations of the Svalbard archipelago.

Methodological difficulties

We have faced several methodological difficulties in conducting the present research, which are described below.

The interpretation of the so-called ‘ice-cored moraines’ of the small cold and polythermal glaciers (‘Longyearbreen-type’)

It has been discussed whether there is dead-ice isolated from the glacier or whether the glacier is just debris-covered (Lønne, 2007; Lønne and Lyså, 2005; Lukas et al., 2005, 2007). The implications of this issue for the glacier reconstruction are very relevant; if the glacier advances beneath the debris, the real front will still be at the maximum LIA position. This means that some glaciers in Spitsbergen have not retreated after the LIA, but rather have been thinning and losing volume (Lukas et al., 2007), with up to 30 m lowering of their surface (Humlum et al., 2005). By aerial photography interpretation, we have tried to differentiate between the moraines’ consequence of the differential ablation at the ice–debris interface (Lukas et al., 2005) and those that show constructional and retreat features as push and thrust ridges, small recessional moraines, flutes, hummocky moraines, symmetric concave forms, trim lines, proglacial lakes, and so on, in order to reconstruct the LIA glacier maximum positions. The topographic map series of Svalbard from 1936 were also used to distinguish between the glaciers that retreated from those that stayed at their LIA maximum positions.

Surging glaciers

Surges are very common in Svalbard, where up to 90% of the glaciers have been affected sometime by surges (Lefauconnier and Hagen, 1991). Some authors (Jiskoot et al., 1998) described many surges as maximum glacier extension during the LIA. A surge is a sudden increase in the glacier velocity by up to 100–200 times more than normal velocity (Sund et al., 2014). In its abrupt downward movement, the ice dismantles the erosional and sedimentary landforms suitable for use in glacial reconstruction. However, it seems that in Spitsbergen, no glaciers have advanced during the surge stage over the LIA maximum position. Just a few glaciers had the same maximum extension during the surge as during the LIA maximum (Lefauconnier and Hagen, 1991). This means that no contemporary surges could be confused with the maximum LIA advances.

Tidewaters glaciers

The reconstruction of some LIA ice fronts that end in open waters have been difficult due to the absence of subaerial sediments and deposits – in some cases, we have used small morainic islands, such as Kvalrossøya at Negribreen, or submarine glacial landforms (Robinson and Dowdeswell, 2011). Due to the influence of the water temperatures at the front, Svalbard calving glaciers have mostly temperate tidewaters tongues (Hagen et al., 2003). Radio-echo sounding measurements, ice surface profiles, and shore–coast bathymetry demonstrate that these glaciers are grounded and do not have floating termini (Dowdeswell et al., 1984; Hagen et al., 2003; Hagen and Saetrang, 1991; Jania et al., 1996). In the Svalbard archipelago, none of the tidewater glaciers form floating ice tongues or shelves (Dowdeswell, 1989; Kohler, 2009) nor advance far over the deep and open waters. The descriptions from the old sailors and whalers suggest this fact (Liestøl, 1993). However, the tidewater glaciers found in sheltered bays and shallow fjord waters had a different behavior due to the protection from the sea dynamics, and mostly the not too deep sills creating semi-enclosed basins (Elverhøi et al., 1980). We have identified clear moraines in most of the fjords that facilitate the reconstruction and show the very important retreat of these types of glaciers.

Results and discussion: Maximum LIA glacier extent and glacier retreat in the major drainage basins of Svalbard

During the LIA maximum, the glacier area of Svalbard was 38,871 km², and since then, it has decreased to 33,775 km² in the late 2000s (Nuth et al., 2013), which means a 13.1% reduction. Since the LIA, the main islands of the archipelago – Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet, and Barentsøya–Edgeøya – have retreated by 12.8%, 13.4%, and 16.7%, respectively (not including here the islands of Kvitøya and Kong Karls Land). The analysis by Hagen et al. (2003) of the maximum LIA glacier extent in the various major drainage basins shows important differences among them. About 100 years ago, some of the glacier basin areas were more than 19% larger than today in the western and central regions of Spitsbergen (basin 14) and more than 23% in southern Nordaustlandet (basin 21), while some basins located in the northeast of this island were barely 1% larger (basins 23 and 24). We describe below our main results for each of the Islands and their major drainage basins.

Maximum LIA glacier extent and glacier retreat in the major basins of Spitsbergen

The maximum LIA glacier extension in Spitsbergen was 23,034.0 km². Since the LIA, the overall glacier area loss in Spitsbergen has been 12.8%, to the current 20,129 km² (Table 1).

Table 1.

Summary of current glacier extent and glaciated area losses of the major basins of Spitsbergen.

Basin	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
Current glaciated area (km²)	3003	1971	2212	2431	3138	2959	4415
Glacier area loss since LIA (km²)	586.5	376.2	468.1	561.05	443.7	308.7	212.7
Glacier area loss since LIA (%)	15.9	16.5	16.9	19.6	12.02	9.6	4.6

Basin 11 is located in eastern Spitsbergen, comprising Sabine Land and Heer Land (Figures 2–4). During the LIA maximum, its glaciers covered 3682 km². Today, it has a glaciated area of 3003 km², which means an ice retreat of 15.9%. In this basin, there are some tidewater glaciers with some of the largest ice retreats of the whole island, Negribreen and Strongbreen, both with calving front recessions larger than 12 km. Other tidewater fronts with large retreats are Sonklabreen (6 km), Ulvebreen (>4 km), and Nordsysselbreen (4.5 km).

Figure 2.

Maximum glacier extent during the LIA in the major drainage basins 11, 12, and 13.

Figure 3.

Maximum glacier extent during the LIA in the major drainage basins 11, 13, and 14.

Figure 4.

Maximum glacier extent during the LIA in the major drainage basins 11, 14, 15, 16, and 17.

Basin 12 is situated in the southernmost region of the Island (Figure 2). It includes Sørkapp Land and partly Wedel Jarlsberg Land and Torell Land. About 100 years ago, the glaciers covered 2271 km². The glacier retreat since the LIA maximum has been of 16.5%, to the current ice-covered area of 1971 km². There are several tidewater glaciers in this basin with remarkable front recessions, such as Hambergbreen (almost 3 km of retreat), Vestre and Austre Torellbreen (>3 km), Vasil’evbreen (7 km), and the outstanding case of Hornbreen, where the front retreat has reached 13 km.

Basin 13 includes Nathorst Land and part of Wedel Jarlsberg Land, Heer Land, and Nordenskiöld Land (Figures 2 and 3). The glaciers reached 2769 km² in the LIA and have lost 16.9% of their area since then. Currently, they occupy 2212 km². Again, the most important ice losses are found in tidewater glaciers, such as Paulabreen (9 km), Fridtjovbreen (4 km), and Nathorstbreen, whose front recessed more than 16 km until early 2000. Nathorstbreen is a good example of a surging glacier that had a readvance between 2009 and 2013 of about 15 km into the fjord and thus is the largest surge in Svalbard since 1936 (Sund et al., 2014). Inland there are some valley glaciers that present important retreats relative to their sizes, as happens with Slakbreen, Kokbreen, and Marthabreen, which show retreats of 2.5, 2.3, and 1.8 km, respectively.

Basin 14 is located in central Spitsbergen. It extends over the north of Nordenskiöld Land, and Bünsow, Dickson, James I, and Oscar II Lands (Figures 3 and 4). During the LIA maximum, the glaciers covered 2863 km². Today, the glaciated area covers 2431 km², which means an ice retreat of 19.6%, making this basin the one with the largest glacier loss in West Spitsbergen. Most of it is due to the tidewater glaciers found in the eastern coasts of James I Land and Oscar Land, such as Sefströmbreen (which lost more than 11 km of its tongue), Borebreen (10 km), Wahlenbergbreen (>7 km), Samebreen (almost 7 km), and Nansenbreen (about 4 km). In James I Land, we found a large outlet glacier system ending on land – Holmströmbreen, Morabreen, and Orsabreen – which recessed more than 8 km, leaving behind a proglacial lake. In the northern part of Nordenskiöld Land, the ice loss was not so significant, which is explained by the smaller glaciated area as compared with other regions of Spitsbergen and by the fact that the small cold and polythermal glaciers, such as ‘Longyearbreen type’, show small changes since the LIA and represent negligible percentages of the overall glaciated area decrease of the island.

Basin 15 is situated in northwestern Spitsbergen (Figures 4 and 5). It includes Albert I Land, and partially Haakon VII Land and Oscar Land. About a century ago, its glaciers covered 3692 km². The glacier retreat since the LIA maximum has been 12.0%, to the current glaciated area of 3138 km². All the tidewater fronts present clear evidences of glacier recession, such as Lilliehöökbreen, which has lost 3.5 km.

Figure 5.

Maximum glacier extent during the LIA in the major drainage basins 15, 16, and 17.

Basin 16 is located in the northern part of the island, comprising Andrée Land and partly Haakon VII Land and Ny-Friesland (Figures 4 and 5). During the LIA maximum, the glaciers extended over 3185 km². Today, it has a glaciated area of 2959 km², which means an ice retreat of 9.6%. Most of the glacier loss is found in the northern and eastern coasts, with tidewater front retreats such as that of Monacobreen, which has receded up to 5 km.

Basin 17 occupies the northeastern parts of Olav V Land and Ny-Friesland (Figures 4 and 5). It is the basin with the largest ice-covered area of Spitsbergen and the one which shows the smallest retreat: 4572 km² of glacier extent during the LIA, 4.6% of ice loss since then, to a glaciated area of 4415 km² at the present time. Ny-Friesland is a striking case. With the exception of a few glaciers reaching the sea in the western coast – Nordbreen, Midtbreen, and Stubendorffbreen, but all three included in basin 16 – and the ice caps that partly cover the peninsula – Åsgardfonna and Valhallfonna – the recession is minimal or absent. This could be due to the slow response to climate fluctuations of the cold-based glaciers and the fact that the glaciers ending on land, where there is continuous permafrost, have cold-based fronts that have remained stationary or slightly moved since the LIA. The influence of the higher altitude of this region should have also played a role in the absence of changes (Möller et al., 2016).

Maximum LIA glacier extent and glacier retreat in the major basins of Nordaustlandet

During the LIA maximum, Nordaustlandet was covered with 12,376 km² of ice. Since then, the island ice caps have lost 1670 km², which represents 13.5% of area loss, producing the current extent of 10,707 km² (Table 2).

Table 2.

Summary of glacier extent and glaciated area losses in the major basins of Nordaustlandet.

Basin	21	22	23	24	25
Current glaciated area (km²)	4517	2491	736	747	2219
Glacier area loss since LIA (km²)	1440.4	82.3	10.6	15.5	120.8
Glacier area loss since LIA (%)	23.8	3.2	1.4	1.7	5.5

Basin 21 includes most of Harald V Land (Figure 6). We have found here the most remarkable ice retreat in Svalbard since the LIA maximum. By that time, the glaciers covered 6047 km², while today the glaciated area is 4517 km², which means an area loss of 23.8%. The largest glacier area losses correspond to the southern and eastern Austfonna tidewater fronts, with maximum retreats of almost 20 km, and to Bråsvellbreen glacier, with an average retreat of 10 km. The reconstruction of these tidewater fronts has been possible through the analysis of the position of their submarine terminal moraines (Solheim and Pfirman, 1985) and other submarine landforms (Robinson and Dowdeswell, 2011), small moraine islands, and historical records (e.g. The Oxford Expedition of 1935–1936; Glen, 1937). However, the reconstruction of some of the tidewater fronts could be not accurate, so we have used question marks on the map. This exceptional glacier retreat is explained not only by climatic factors but also by post-surge dynamics (Lefauconnier and Hagen, 1991).

Figure 6.

Maximum glacier extent during the LIA in the major drainage basins 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 41, and 51.

Basin 22 is located in the western part of Nordaustlandet (Figure 6). A 100 years ago, the glaciers covered 2557 km² of the basin. The glacier retreat since the LIA maximum has been 3.2%, placing the current ice area at 2491 km². Most of the area losses correspond to Etonbreen and Bragebreen glaciers, both of which retreated more than 3 km.

Basin 23 includes the northwestern part of Nordaustlandet (Figure 6). The glaciers reached 740 km² in the LIA and have lost only 1.4% of their ice surface since then. Currently, they occupy 736 km². The only ice fronts retreats of this basin are found in Franklinbreane. Basin 23 is the one with the lowest ice-covered area loss of the whole Svalbard, which is explained by the small size of the glaciers, the fact that they are mainly land terminating, and their cold hydrothermal structure. Also, the fact that this region is scarcely glaciated (only 40%) explains the small total contribution to Svalbard glacier losses.

Basin 24 is located in the northern part of Nordaustlandet (Figure 6). During the LIA maximum, the glaciers covered 875 km². Today, it has a glaciated area of 747 km², which means an area loss of 1.7%, similar to that of basin 23.

Basin 25 is situated in the northernmost part of Nordaustlandet (Figure 6). About a century ago, the glaciers covered 2157.3 km² of the basin. The glacier area loss since the LIA maximum has been 5.6%, placing the current ice area at 2219 km². The only glacier retreats took place in the glaciers of Leighbreen (6 km) and Schweigaardbreen (1 km), both marine terminating.

Maximum LIA glacier extent and glacier retreat in Barentsøya and Edgeøya

During the LIA maximum, Barentsøya and Edgeøya were covered with 2750 km² of ice. The glacier retreat since then has led to a current ice-covered area of 2289 km², which represents a 16.7% reduction in area (Table 3).

Table 3.

Summary of glacier extent and glaciated area losses in Barentsøya and Edgeøya.

Basin	31	32
Current glaciated area (km²)	1785	504
Glacier area loss since LIA (km²)	354.6	106.8
Glacier area loss since LIA (%)	16.5	17.5

Basin 31 includes the whole Edgeøya (Figure 7). During the LIA maximum, the island was covered with 2140 km² of ice. The area loss since then has been 16.5%, to the current glacier area of 1785 km². Most of the glacier retreat since the LIA maximum is found in the eastern part of the island. Stonebreen shows a rather homogeneous recession all along the coast of 2 km on average, while there was almost no variation inland, with the exception of the Seidbreen and Gandbreen fronts, which retreated about 1 km. The rest of glaciers inland have remained in their LIA maximum positions or have retreated a few 100 m or less. An important retreat of 5 km is found in Deltabreen, which in the LIA maximum occupied a shallow bay protected by the fjord. The Kong John glacier retreated from the lobe of 6 km in width and 3 km in length into the sea that it occupied in the LIA maximum. In the western part of the island, Kuhrbreen retreated more than 1 km from its LIA maximum position, which reached the water.

Figure 7.

Maximum glacier extent during the LIA in the major drainage basins 31 and 32.

Basin 32 corresponds to Barentsøya (Figure 7). About 100 years ago, the glaciers covered 611 km² of the island and today occupy 504 km², representing a 17.5% area loss. The retreat since the LIA maximum has taken place in only three glaciers, flowing toward the West, North, and East: Duckwitzbreen (whose front has retreated more than 3 km), Besselsbreen (6 km), and Hübnerbreen (3.5 km). The fronts found inland show almost no changes since the LIA.

Maximum LIA glacier extent and glacier retreat in Kong Karls Land

Hagen et al. (1993) described five small ice bodies covering 22 km² in the islands of Kong Karls Land and Svenskøya (basin 41, Figure 6). Currently, there are no glaciers in these islands, and we have estimated a new LIA maximum ice extent of 7 km². Therefore, ice loss is of 100% (Table 4).

Table 4.

Summary of glacier extent and glaciated area losses in Kong Karls Land.

Basin	41
Current glaciated area (km²)	0
Glacier area loss since LIA (km²)	7.4
Glacier area loss since LIA (%)	100

Maximum LIA glacier extent and glacier retreat in Kvitøya

Kvitøya is a small island almost fully covered by the Kvitøyjøkulen glacier (basin 51, Figure 6). The ice covers nowadays 647 km². The glacier extent has not changed since the LIA (Lefauconnier and Hagen, 1991). Thus, ice loss is 0% (Table 5).

Table 5.

Summary of glacier extent and glaciated area losses in Kvitøya.

Basin	51
Current glaciated area in (km²)	647
Glacier area loss since LIA (km²)	0
Glacier area loss since LIA (%)	0

Conclusion

We have quantified in this paper the maximum glacier extent during the LIA in the whole of Svalbard, presenting also the results in cartographic form. We have shown that glacier retreat following the LIA has been the general trend in the archipelago. During the LIA maximum, the glacier area of Svalbard was 38,871 km², and since then, 5096 km² have been lost, which represents a 13.1% decrease in area, to produce the current glaciated area of 33,775 km². This is a rather large glaciated area loss for a relatively short period of about 100 years. Since the end of the LIA, the glaciers in the main islands of the archipelago – Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet, and Barentsøya–Edgeøya – have experienced glaciated area losses of 12.8%, 13.4%, and 16.7%, respectively. The analysis of the maximum LIA glacier extent in the various major drainage basins shows important differences. Just 100 years ago, the areas of some glacier basins were more than 19% larger in the western and central regions of Spitsbergen or even more than 23% in southern Nordaustlandet, while other basins found in the northeast of this island increased their area by 1%. Most of the major basins of Svalbard have shown glacier retreat (not including the islands of Kvitøya and Kong Karls Land, too small to be representative). A detailed study of each of them has shown that tidewater glaciers found in fjords and along the coast are responsible for the largest ice losses, which we attribute to several factors:

The intense ablation by calving processes under warmer climatic conditions; some of these tidewater glaciers, such as Negribreen, produce tabular icebergs (Dowdeswell, 1989).

The fact that their tidewater fronts are often thin and temperate, which makes them more dynamic and sensitive to climatic fluctuations. The tidewater glacier retreats are mostly governed by bed topography. Bathymetry and ice front thickness are important for local variations in the retreat, and the buoyancy forces will act and be responsible for fast calving and retreat when the glacier thins.

The advances of these glaciers during the LIA often correspond to surges (Lefauconnier and Hagen, 1991), which means that the rapid retreats are motivated by the post-surging phases as well.

The large outlet glaciers that end on land also present important recessions, but not comparable with those of the tidewater glaciers. Many inland valley glaciers show relatively significant reductions in size, but these represent negligible percentages as compared with the total area of the Island. Finally, some cold-based fronts from small glaciers have remained almost steady since the LIA.

The study of the glacier LIA extent and subsequent retreat suggests the vulnerability of Svalbard glaciers to global warming and the need of further regional studies of the Arctic glaciers to confirm the profound changes undergone by this region.

Footnotes

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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