Change of several glaciers in Spitsbergen Island was investigated using surface photographs taken in 1933 and afterward. All glaciers investigated decreased their thickness and area at their terminal parts in the period from 1933 to 2004

Fujio Yamaguchi

Hajime Ito

Miki Yoshioka

National Institute of Polar Research Repository

Scientiﬁc noteChange of glaciers in Spitsbergen Island since +3--observed with surface photographsMiki Yoshioka+,,, Hajime Ito, and Fujio Yamaguchi++Hosei University, Graduate School of Humanities, Geography,Ichigaya Tamachi, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo +0,-*2.-,National Institute of Polar Research, Kaga +-chome, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo +1--2/+/Corresponding author. E-mail: hokkyoku@nipr.ac.jp(Received May ,+, ,**/; Accepted December ,0, ,**/)Abstract: Change of several glaciers in Spitsbergen Island was investigated usingsurface photographs taken in +3-- and afterward. All glaciers investigated decreasedtheir thickness and area at their terminal parts in the period from +3-- to ,**..key words: Spitsbergen Island, surface photograph, glacier change, 13 degree North+. IntroductionThe state of glaciers in past, when no satellite or airborne data were yet available,can be investigated with photographs taken on the ground. To utilize this old datasource in comparative study, aiming to reveal the long term glacier change, the picturesof the identical glaciers taken at later year are necessary.In +33-, authors took sequential photographs of the coastal topography from theship sailing around Spitsbergen Island, Svalbard Islands (Ito and Yoshioka, +33.).In +3--, 0* years before the observation above, a geographer, Kouji Iizuka and anengineer, Shinji Okada visited Spitsbergen Island individually, and both of them tookphotographs of the coastal glaciers. They introduced Spitsbergen Island to Japanesepublic by publishing books which contained glacier photographs (Iizuka, +3-2; Okada,+3-/).It was found, some old pictures have their modern counterparts; same glaciers werephotographed at similar spots and in similar angle once again in +33-, after 0* years.One of those glaciers is Tunabreen, which is located at central Spitsbergen Island. Andothers are several glaciers ﬂowing into Magdalenefjorden, northwestern SpitsbergenIsland (Fig. +).To investigate also short term phenomena, authors took photographs of the glaciersin ,**., ++ years after the ﬁrst modern observation in +33-.+-.Mem. Natl Inst. Polar Res., Spec. Issue, /3, +-.+.-, ,**0 ,**0 National Institute of Polar Research,. Observations,.+. Old observation IKouji Iizuka got on board “Foucauld” on 1 July +3-- at Dunkerque, France. Theship arrived Spitsbergen Island on +2 July, and left on ,* July. He published a book“13 degree North” in +3-2, which includes 0 photographs taken at Spitsbergen Island.,.,. Old observation II“General van Steuben” with Shinji Okada on board left Bremerhaven, Germany on+3 July +3--. The ship arrived Spitsbergen Island on ,3 July, and left on . August.He wrote a short article in a scientiﬁc magazine in +3-/, which includes 1 photographstaken at Spitsbergen Island.,.-. Modern observation IAuthors started the cruise on board “Origo” on +0 July +33- at Longyearbyen,Fig. +. Location of Tunabreen and Magdalenefjorden. Bold lines indicate coast where sequentialphotographs were taken in +33-. Dotted lines indicate coast where sequential photographswere taken in ,**..Change of glaciers in Spitsbergen Island 135Svalbard. The ship returned Longyearbyen on ,1 July. Successively, the secondcruise was made from 1 August to +/ August on board “Polar Star”. The coasts wheresequential photographs were taken are indicated with bold lines in Fig. +.,... Modern observation IIOne of authors got on board “Polar Star” on +- August ,**. at Longyearbyen,Svalbard. The ship returned Longyearbyen on ,* August. The coasts where sequen-tial photographs were taken are indicated with dotted lines in Fig. +.-. Change of glaciers-.+. TunabreenTunabreen is located at central Spitsbergen Island and ﬂows into Tempelfjorden.Figure , shows the drainage basin of Tunabreen. The drainage area of the glacier is+23.2 km,. Tunabreen joins with von Postbreen near the terminal. Three recentsurges are recorded at Tunabreen, in +3-*, +31* and ,**- (Table +).Figure - shows photographs of Tunabreen taken in +3--, +33- and ,**.. In thethree photographs, the thickness of the glacier and terminal position are compared.(The “thickness” in this text is that above sea level irrespectively whether the glacier isFig. ,. Drainage basin of Tunabreen.M. Yoshioka, H. Ito and F. Yamaguchi136ﬂoating or not.)The comparison of photos taken in +3-- and +33- indicates that the glacierretreated and decreased the thickness at the terminal in 0* years.Two recent photos indicate the state of glacier in +33-, +* years before a surge, andthat in ,**., + year after the surge. The position of the terminal advanced and glacierthickness increased, as if the surge restored glacier state to that of a few decades ago.In 1+ years form +3-- to ,**., the glacier retreated and decreased the thickness atthe terminal area.Thickness of the glacier was estimated, in each of the years, on the photos in Fig. -,Table +. State of Tunabreen.Fig. -. Surface photographs of Tunabreen taken in +3--, +33- and ,**..Change of glaciers in Spitsbergen Island 137using the cli# top facing the glacier at left side as a scale. The cli# top is assumed to be,**m a.s.l. The height of glacier surface is estimated to be +,*m a.s.l. in +3--, 3*min +33- and 3/m in ,**..The positions of glacier terminals in various years are collected also utilizingpublished maps and summarized in Fig. .. The position in +3-- and ,**. are estimatedusing the photographs, whilst those in other years were taken from the maps issued byNorsk Polarinstitutt: the position in +300 and +33- are taken from +:+***** topographicmap, No. C2. Those in +31+ and +320 are from +:,***** coast map, No. B-. Andthat in +33* is from +:,/**** topographic map, sheet +.The change of glacier terminal position is schematically summarized in Fig. /. AFig. .. Terminal position of Tunabreen. The position in+3-- and ,**. are estimated using the photographs.Positions of other years were taken from the mapsissued by Norsk Polarinstitutt.Fig. /. Change of terminal position of Tunabreen. The advanced distance of terminal positionfrom that of +3--, along Line A (Fig. .) is plotted on the ordinate. Negative valueindicates distance of retreat. Three recorded surges are also indicated.M. Yoshioka, H. Ito and F. Yamaguchi138somewhat arbitrary center line of the fjord, Line A, is drawn on Fig. .. The pointwhere the glacier terminal crosses the Line A is considered to represent the terminalposition at that time. The distance of the terminal position in the year from that in+3-- is measured along the Line A in the ﬂow direction, and it is plotted in the diagram,Fig. /. The positive value indicates the advance of the front, and the negative value theretreat. Three recorded surges are also indicated in the diagram. A surge occurred in+3-*. The glacier terminal of Tunabreen was located farthest o#shore in +3-- amongthe data in this text. Then, the terminal retreated with a mean rate of 22m/year untilthe next occurrence of a surge in +31*. The terminal position in +31+ shows, that theglacier advanced, but did not go beyond the position in +3--. The glacier continued toretreat through +320, +33* and +33-. The mean rate of retreat during +320 to +33- is+1/m/year. The glacier may have further retreated until the occurrence of the nextsurge. The latest surge occurred in ,**- and the glacier advanced. But the glacier didnot advance beyond the position in +31+, the terminal position after the previous surge.The comparison of terminal positions after surges, in +3--, +31+ and ,**. indicates, thatTunabreen is generally retreating in the 1+ years with a mean rate of ,.m/year,although the glacier advanced by each surge.The glacier terminal of Tunabreen advances occasionally by a surge, but the glacieris retreating in a long period. The latter phenomenon is greater in scale, and the formeris overwhelmed.-.,. Waggonwaybreen and other glaciers ﬂowing into MagdalenefjordenMagdalenefjorden is located at northwestern Spitsbergen Island. Several glaciersﬂow into the fjord at the end of the fjord and along the southern coast of the fjord, areinvestigated. The largest glacier among them is Waggonwaybreen, whose drainagearea is /,.- km,. Figure 0 shows drainage basins of these glaciers. The numbers inTable ,. State of glaciers ﬂowing into Magdalenefjorden.Change of glaciers in Spitsbergen Island 139circle identify the glaciers in Table , and Figs. 1, 2. Figures 1 and 2 show photographstaken in +3--, +33- and ,**.. All glaciers in the photographs retreated and decreasedtheir thickness as the year went by. The glacier terminal positions are estimated usingphotographs and indicated in Figs. 3 and +*. The positions in +300 and +33* are takenfrom a topographic map (NP +:+*****, No. A/) and added to Figs. 3 and +*. Noinformation is available yet whether surges occurred at these glaciers in the observationperiod.The change of the glacier terminal position of Waggonwaybreen and Gullybreen issummarized in Fig. ++. Lines B and C are drawn on Figs. 3 and +* respectively, andare used in the evaluation of the terminal position. Both terminal positions retreatedFig. 0. Drainage basins of glaciers investigated at Magdalenefjorden. The glaciers are numberedfor distinction (in circle), and the same numbers are used in Table ,, Fig. 1 and Fig. 2.M. Yoshioka, H. Ito and F. Yamaguchi140Fig. 1. Surface photographs of Miethebreen, Waggonwaybreen and other glaciers taken in +3--,+33- and ,**.Change of glaciers in Spitsbergen Island 141almost , km in the period, from +3-- to ,**.. The manner of retreat was di#erent foreach glacier. Gullybreen retreated at a constant rate of ,1m/year during the 1+ yearsperiod. Waggonwaybreen also retreated with a constant rate but slower than Gully-breen at the earlier part of the observation period with a mean rate of +0m/year. After+33*, the rate was increased to 00m/year and exceeded that of Gullybreen.Fig. 2. Surface photographs of Gullybreen and other glaciers taken in +3--, +33- and ,**..Fig. 3. The terminal position of glaciers at the endof Magdalenefjorden area. The positions in+300 and +33* are taken from a topographicmap.Fig. +*. The terminal position of Gullybreen. Thepositions in +300 and +33* are taken froma topographic map.M. Yoshioka, H. Ito and F. Yamaguchi142.. ConclusionSeveral glaciers in Spitsbergen Island were investigated using sets of surfacephotographs with intervals up to 1+ years. All of the glaciers decreased their thicknessand area at their terminal parts in 1+ years. One of the glaciers surged twice duringobservation period. At this glacier, Tunabreen the terminal position advancedtemporally by each occurrence of surge, but retreated in a long period.These glaciers investigated were popular glaciers for the tourist since the end of +3century. More surface photographs in old time are expected to be found for futurestudy. There are certain number of photograph pairs taken in +33- and ,**., whichcontain glaciers other than those discussed in the text. They would serve as thematerial for future study as well.The method presented is found to be useful in the estimation of glacier thicknessand area, although it’s application is restricted to the terminal part of glacier only.ReferencesHagen, J.O. et al. (+33-): Glacier atlas of Svalbard and Jan Mayen. Meddelelser, +,3, Oslo, Norsk Polar-institutt, +.+ p.Iizuka, K. (+3-2): Hokui 13 do (13 degree North). Tokyo, Sanseido, ,0/ p. (in Japanese).Ito, H. and Yoshioka, M. (+33.): Oceanographic survey around Spitsbergen Island using coast liner. J. Jpn.Soc. Mar. Surv. Technol., 0 (,), /1/3 (in Japanese).Okada, S. (+3-/): Hoppyoˆyoˆ ni Spitsbergen wo otozurete (Visiting Spitsbergen in Arctic ocean). KagakuChishiki, +/ (,), +32,** (in Japanese).Fig. ++. Change of terminal position of Waggonwaybreen and Gullybreen. The advanceddistances of terminal position from that of +3--, along Line B (Fig. 3) and Line C(Fig. +*) are plotted on the ordinate. Negative value indicates distance of retreat.Change of glaciers in Spitsbergen Island 143

Change of glaciers in Spitsbergen Island since 1933 observed with surface photographs

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Change of glaciers in Spitsbergen Island since 1933 observed with surface photographs

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