My OperaRetreating Svalbard Glaciers
Monday, July 20, 2009 7:40:51 AM
Svalbard has a total area of 62,248 km2, mostly contained in the four main islands, Spitsbergen, Nordaustlandet, Edgerøya, and Barentsrøya. More than 2,100 glaciers cover 36,591 km2, or about 59 percent of the total area. These are old figures that I have from last century, and will be lower today, as most of these glaciers are retreating. Glaciers in Svalbard and Alaska melt much quicker than glaciers in other Arctic regions, and furthermore Svalbard glaciers melt twice as fast as the ones in Canadian Arctic do.
One of the more famous glacier is the 14th July Glacier, named by French explorers (“Glacier du Quatorze Juillet”). I would guess that the name is due to the “Bastille Day” (commemorating the storming of the Bastille prison on 14 July 1789), and not the day they found it. In Norwegian it is called the “Fjortende Julibreen”. Many (excellent) pictures of this glacier is found on the internet - just do a Google-search - much better than mine, nevertheless here is a panorama of this famous, and rapidly retreating glacier. I took this photo on 6 July 2009 (sorry 8 days too early).
Another retreating glacier in that area is the Lilliehöök-breen or Lilliehook Glacier, that has retreated 4-5 km over the latest 100 years:
These two glaciers are situated near the i on the labelled map below (11 July Glacier out to the Krossfjord and Lilliehook Glacier a bit further to the north in the Lilliehöökfjord, which is the northwestern continuation of the Krossfjord)
Finally two more clearly retreating glaciers at the Krossfjord:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spitsbergen_labelled.png
In Norwegian:
• http://www.abcnyheter.no/node/92274
• http://www.troms.com/nyhet/?ID=1485
One of the more famous glacier is the 14th July Glacier, named by French explorers (“Glacier du Quatorze Juillet”). I would guess that the name is due to the “Bastille Day” (commemorating the storming of the Bastille prison on 14 July 1789), and not the day they found it. In Norwegian it is called the “Fjortende Julibreen”. Many (excellent) pictures of this glacier is found on the internet - just do a Google-search - much better than mine, nevertheless here is a panorama of this famous, and rapidly retreating glacier. I took this photo on 6 July 2009 (sorry 8 days too early).
Another retreating glacier in that area is the Lilliehöök-breen or Lilliehook Glacier, that has retreated 4-5 km over the latest 100 years:
These two glaciers are situated near the i on the labelled map below (11 July Glacier out to the Krossfjord and Lilliehook Glacier a bit further to the north in the Lilliehöökfjord, which is the northwestern continuation of the Krossfjord)
Finally two more clearly retreating glaciers at the Krossfjord:
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Spitsbergen_labelled.png
In Norwegian:
• http://www.abcnyheter.no/node/92274
• http://www.troms.com/nyhet/?ID=1485
Michael WellandMichaelWelland # Tuesday, July 21, 2009 11:28:39 AM
http://www.geoexpro.com/geotourism/welland
Ole Nielsennielsol # Tuesday, July 21, 2009 12:57:27 PM
I can by the way recommend a subscription to the GeoExPro Newsletter to everybody -
http://www.geoexpro.com/geoexpro/
rss feed is of course also available