Long-term temperature trends and variability on Spitsbergen: the extended Svalbard Airport temperature series, 1898-2012

One of the few long instrumental records available for the Arctic is the Svalbard Airport composite series that hitherto began in 1911, with observations made on Spitsbergen, the largest island in the Svalbard Archipelago. This record has now been extended to 1898 with the inclusion of observations made by hunting and scientific expeditions. Temperature has been observed almost continuously in Svalbard since 1898, although at different sites. It has therefore been possible to create one composite series for Svalbard Airport covering the period 1898–2012, and this valuable new record is presented here. The series reveals large temperature variability on Spitsbergen, with the early 20th century warming as one striking feature: an abrupt change from the cold 1910s to the local maxima of the 1930s and 1950s. With the inclusion of the new data it is possible to show that the 1910s were colder than the years at the start of the series. From the 1960s, temperatures have increased, so the present temperature level is significantly higher than at any earlier period in the instrumental history. For the entire period, and for all seasons, there are positive, statistically significant trends. Regarding the annual mean, the total trend is 2.6°C/century, whereas the largest trend is in spring, at 3.9°C/century. In Europe, it is the Svalbard Archipelago that has experienced the greatest temperature increase during the latest three decades. The composite series may be downloaded from the home page of the Norwegian Meteorological Institute and should be used with reference to the present article

Hva skjer med BIBSYS?

Om rapporten "Bibsys : framtidig organisering og oppgaver", fra et arbeidsutvalg nedsatt av UFD (innstilling avlevert i nov. 2004). Artikkelen omhandler selve rapporten, samt høringsuttalelsene og den debatten som har pågått innenfor bibliotekmiljøet i tiden etter at rapporten ble avlevert. Negative og positive sider ved Bibsys som biblioteksystem og organisasjon omtales. Forholdet til Nasjonalbiblioteket berøres ogs

Forecasting snow avalanche days from meteorological data using classification trees, Grasdalen, Western Norway.

Avalanches pose one of the most serious problems to infrastructure and people in the mountains in Norway. Processes leading to avalanche release are deterministic but the time and place of avalanche release is notoriously difficult to predict. Statistical approaches using meteorological parameters to predict the probability of natural avalanche release provide an alternative to deterministic prediction. We used classification trees to predict days with and without avalanches in the valley of Grasdalen in Western Norway based on meteorological parameters. A database with avalanche observations from almost 30 years was spatially and temporally coupled to grids of wind, precipitation and temperature. The grids were used because they provided more temporally consistent datasets than measurements from a local weather station. Avalanches were observed on 254 days and the same number of non-avalanche days was randomly selected. The optimal classification trees gave misclassification rates of 15% for all avalanche days, 18% for days with dry avalanches and 13% for days with wet avalanches. The most important meteorological parameters for the classification were the five-, one- and three-day sum of precipitation. Then followed wind speed, either measured as the maximum or mean over five days, three days or one day. Finally, daily temperature was important for the classification both alone and through a degree day parameter. Based on realistic scenarios for precipitation and temperature, our results imply that avalanche frequency will increase in the future. Further studies are needed to quantify this increase

Revisiting the extended Svalbard Airport monthly temperature series, and the compiled corresponding daily series 1898–2018

The Svalbard Airport composite series spanning the period from 1898 to the present represents one of very few long-term instrumental temperature series from the High Arctic. A homogenized monthly temperature series is available since 2014. Here we increase the resolution from a monthly to daily basis, and further digitization of historical data has reduced the uncertainty of the series. The most pronounced changes in the 120-year record occur during the last three decades. For the 1991–2018 period the number of days warmer than 0 and 5 °C has increased by 25 (21%) and 22 (59%), respectively, per year compared to the 1961–1990 standard normal. Likewise, comparing the same periods, the number of days colder than −10 and −20 °C has decreased by 42 (32%) and 27 (62%), respectively. During the entire time span of the series, the western Spitsbergen climate has gone through stepwise changes, alternating between cold and warm regimes: 1899–1929 was cold, 1930–1961 warm, 1962–1998 cold and 1999–2018 warm. The latest cold regime was 1.0 °C warmer than the first cold one, and the latest warm regime was 1.7 °C warmer than the previous warm one. For the whole series the linear trend for annual means amounts to 0.32°C/decade, which is about 3.5 times the increase of the global mean temperature for the same period. Since 1991, the rate of warming at Svalbard Airport is 1.7 °C/decade, which is more than twice the Arctic average (0.8 °C/decade, north of 66 °N) and about seven times the global average for the same period

GLORIA Norge 2022: Overvåkning av vegetasjon og vekstsesong

GLORIA-Norge sitt hovedmål er å overvåke endringer i vegetasjon, fenologi og fysiske faktorer i relasjon til vær- og klimaendringer langs høyde-, snøvarighet- og kyst-/innland-gradienter i fjellområder i Sør- og Nord-Norge. GLORIA-Norge ble opprettet i 2007, og hadde sitt utspring i det EU-finansierte prosjektet GLORIA (Global Research Initiative in Alpine Environments) Europe (2001-2003). GLORIA har utviklet seg til å bli et verdensomspennende nettverk som overvåker endringer i vegetasjon på fjelltopper. I GLORIA-Norge overvåkes seks fjellområder lokalisert langs kyst-innlands og nord-sør gradient, og innen hvert fjellområdene overvåkes gradienter fra skog til topp, fra lang til kort snøvarighet og i flere himmelretninger. I tillegg overvåkes vekstsesongen (fenologi) og isbreer, og det måles jordtemperatur og enkelte steder jordfuktighet.GLORIA Norge 2022: Overvåkning av vegetasjon og vekstsesongpublishedVersio

Permafrost temperatures and active layer thickness in Svalbard during 2017/2018 (PermaSval)

This report follows up on the report published in the SESS Report 2018 (Christiansen et al. 2019). Since 2018, the Norwegian Environment Agency has released the Climate in Svalbard 2100 report summarizing observed trends in permafrost conditions over the period of field measurements and a forecast for the future, based on recent climate and permafrost modelling (Hanssen-Bauer et al. 2019). It is well established that the terrestrial cryosphere in Svalbard has changed since modern permafrost monitoring efforts began in the late 1990s. In central Svalbard in the Adventdalen area, ground temperatures have risen by as much as 0.15°C per year (10 m depth) and the thickness of the seasonally-unfrozen active layer increased by 0.6 cm per year since 2000 in sediments and 1.6 cm/year in bedrock (Hanssen-Bauer et al. 2019), while in Ny-Ålesund ground temperatures increased by 0.18°C/year and the thickness of active layer increased by 5 cm/year (Boike et al. 2018). Modern monitoring techniques mean that it is relatively easy to quantify permafrost change in terms of temperature. The visible effects of warming permafrost are, however, more ambiguous. A prolonged thaw season is anticipated to result in a thicker active layer, and increased rainfall intensity can result in more frequent landslides. The strength of frozen soil decreases when warming and permafrost change may expectedly result in infrastructure problems in cases where climate change was not considered during the initial design. The aims of this part of the State of Environmental Science in Svalbard reporting are to: (1) provide an overview of permafrost data collected during the 2017-2018 hydrological year (1 September 2017 – 31 August 2018), (2) contrast these results with the 2016-2017 hydrological year as presented in Christiansen et al. (2019), (3) summarise developments in permafrost monitoring in Svalbard, and (4) provide recommendations for future permafrost investigations. Understanding the spatial distribution of permafrost conditions is critical to predicting geomorphological change and understanding the variability in climate impacts. 2371

Comparative analysis of Russian and Norwegian precipitation gauges, measurements in Barentsburg, Western Spitsbergen

Comparative analysis of records of two gauges with different wind shields (Tretyakov gauge and Geonor T200-B) were done, based on time series of parallel measurement in Barentsburg settlement, Svalbard, during two winter times in period from September 2014 to July 2016. All collected data of solid precipitation were divided into two ranges with different wind speed conditions. As it was known from earlier papers, Tretyakov gauge measurements tend to underestimate solid precipitation in case when precipitation is not intensive and wind speed is less than 5 m s-1. Opposite results were obtained for blizzard conditions (wind speed is more than 6 m s-1): Tretyakov gauge shows greater values for amount of solid precipitation than Norwegian sensor. Preliminary results in Barentsburg cannot be described as conclusive ones. Estimation of solid precipitation on Spitsbergen measured by different gauges needs further and more detailed research, which includes fieldwork in Barentsburg in spring, such as detailed snow surveys in the settlement

Sea ice metadata for Billefjorden and Grnfjorden, Svalbard

Description of sea ice conditions in the fjords of Svalbard is crucial for sea transport as well as studies of local climate and climate change. Old observations from the Russian Hydrometeorological stations in the mining settlements Barentsburg (Grnfjorden) and Pyramiden (Billefjorden) have now been digitized. These visual and instrumental observations are archived in the State Archive of Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute (AARI) and Murmansk Branch of the Russian Hydrometeorological Service. In this paper, we bring an overview of the sea ice metadata with few examples of yearly changes in sea ice extent

Hazards, Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events

Geohazards are events related to geological features and processes that cause loss of life and severe damage to property and the natural and built environment. The most common and destructive geohazards in Norway are snow avalanches, clay-, debris- and rock slides, and floods, which together caused more than 2000 deaths during the last 150 years. Statistically, about 10 large slides and avalanches are expected to occur in Norway the next 50-100 years, each with possibly 20-100 deaths, unless preventive planning and actions are made. In addition to the loss of lives, geohazards pose a large impact on infrastructure and the daily life in many parts of Norway. A possible increase of extreme weather events in the next 50 years may lead to change in the type and frequency of slides and avalanches. The main objective of the four year research project GeoExtreme is therefore to assess the geohazard situation in Norway in a changing climate over the next 50 years. The initial step is a statistical analysis of the relationships between meteorological conditions and geohazards. To do this, a national database of slide events has been established. The time and location of these events will be compared to interpolated meteorological datasets for the last 100 years. Results of this analysis will be used in combination with climate scenarios for the next 50 years to produce a picture of possible future geohazards in Norway. The effects on the local society are studied in detail in four study areas representing different climate areas in Norway. An important part of the project is the assessment of socioeconomic consequences of geohazards in Norway, both in the past, and in the future, under the predicted climate scenarios. Important parameters here are cost related to damage by natural disasters as well as to mitigation measures, ability to learn by experience, changes in preparedness, and impact on policy makers. The first results show a high predictability of slide events by standard meteorological observations. Also the vulnerability pattern shows significant changes from hazard for residential areas to transport lines and leisure time activities. The presentation gives a general overview over the project and presents some of the first results of the analyses