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bluesky

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Glaciers and ice caps of the Russian Arctic
« on: August 30, 2021, 04:02:06 PM »
Accelerating Ice Mass Loss Across Arctic Russia in Response to Atmospheric Warming, Sea Ice Decline, and Atlantification of the Eurasian Arctic Shelf Seas

Paul Tepes,Peter Nienow,Noel Gourmelen
First published: 30 June 2021

https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2021JF006068


"We used eight years of high-resolution CryoSat-2 interferometric altimetry to generate maps of surface elevation change dh and derive mass balance from 2010 to 2018 over the glaciers and ice caps of Novaya Zemlya and Severnaya Zemlya in the Russian Arctic. The high-density swath elevation fields were used further to generate, for the first time, robust time series of dh at 90-days time steps over single tidewater glacier basins at regional scale. We analyzed the time series in conjunction with climate data reanalyzes to establish links between the Russian Arctic's glaciers and ice caps mass imbalance and environmental forcings.

We find that Novaya Zemlya continues to dominate sea level input in the BKS region, with total ice loss of 9.7 ± 0.5 Gt a−1 driven by similar area-specific rates of loss from both land- (441 ± 31 kg m−2 a−1) and marine-terminating glaciers (425 ± 30 kg m−2 a−1). Along Novaya Zemlya's Barents coast, both surface melt and ice dynamics form a strong coupled mechanism leading to enhanced tidewater glacier mass imbalance, due to dramatic thinning in the lower tidewater terminus regions. Ice loss in Severnaya Zemlya is predominantly driven by six marine-terminating ice streams, whereas elsewhere in the archipelago, the ice at the basin scale is slightly thickening. Of the six ice streams, the acceleration of basin V on Vavilov ice cap in spring 2015 has led to the most significant shift in mass balance in the BKS region since 2010.

Our results reveal a clear and significant link between amplified, coupled atmosphere-ocean forcing and ice thinning over Novaya Zemlya, with a 1.5-years delay in the response of the ice masses to the onset of forcing. This linear response is particularly strong along the Barents Sea coast, where ongoing Atlantification is driving the climate dynamics and the subsequent ice mass response. Calving rates in Severnaya Zemlya are also controlled by Atlantic Ocean heat transfer, in this instance along the Eurasian continental slope, and assisted by Ekman vertical transport enabling warmer waters to reach tidewater glacier termini. However, over Severnaya Zemlya, oceanic and atmospheric forcing are decoupled, the former sustaining or activating ice dynamics at individual marine-terminating basins, and the latter sustaining a positive surface mass balance over the entire archipelago.

A linear relationship between ice loss and oceanic and atmospheric forcing has been demonstrated previously over parts of Greenland (Cowton et al., 2018; Khazendar et al., 2019; Slater et al., 2019, 2020). In the Eurasian High Arctic, a coupled atmosphere-ocean warming feedback is currently expanding eastwards in response to the northward shift of Atlantic climate (Polyakov et al., 2017), sea ice decline (Stroeve et al., 2018), and positive climate feedbacks (Goosse et al., 2018). Our detailed temporal and spatial observations of patterns of glacier thinning suggest that this progression is already significantly impacting glacier and ice cap stability in the eastern Russian Arctic, with the potential for future dynamic regime changes and enhanced mechanisms of ice loss.

Despite the complexities of climate variability in the BKS sector and a range of dynamic responses specific to the Russian High Arctic, our study confirms that relatively simple, linear relationships are sufficient to describe regional ice-climate interactions and may be used to predict future ice loss in regions where coupled ocean-atmosphere forcing prevails. These relationships provide considerable potential for improving global sea level predictions through the incorporation of parametrizations in coupled ice-atmosphere-ocean modeling work (Slater et al., 2020)."

bluesky

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Re: Glaciers and ice caps of the Russian Arctic
« Reply #1 on: August 30, 2021, 04:19:52 PM »
Changes in elevation and mass of Arctic glaciers and ice caps, 2010–2017
Author links open overlay
P.Tepesa N.Gourmelena P.Nienowa M.Tsamadosc A.Shepherdd F.Weissgerbera


Remote Sensing of Environment
Volume 261, August 2021, 112481

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0034425721001991


Abstract
"Arctic glaciers and ice caps (GIC) are losing mass rapidly, and this process is expected to continue during the 21st century owing to polar amplification of climate warming. Here, we use seven years of CryoSat-2 swath interferometric altimetry to track changes in the volume of Arctic GIC. From these data, we produce a pan-Arctic assessment of GIC mass imbalance, and we partition their losses into signals associated with atmospheric processes and glacier dynamics. Between 2010 and 2017, Arctic GIC lost 609 ± 7 Gt of ice, contributing 0.240 ± 0.007 mm per year to global sea level rise. While surface ablation is responsible for 87% of losses across the Arctic, dynamic imbalance is increasing in the Barents and Kara Sea region where it now accounts for 43% of total ice loss. Arctic GIC's dynamic imbalance is associated with a northward shift of Atlantic climate, and this effect should be considered in global sea level projections."


gerontocrat

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Re: Glaciers and ice caps of the Russian Arctic
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2022, 01:50:03 PM »
Ice mass in decline....

https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/16/35/2022/
Brief communication: Increased glacier mass loss in the Russian High Arctic (2010–2017)
Quote
Abstract
Glaciers in the Russian High Arctic have been subject to extensive atmospheric warming due to global climate change, yet their contribution to sea level rise has been relatively small over the past decades. Here we show surface elevation change measurements and geodetic mass balances of 93 % of all glacierized areas of Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya, and Franz Josef Land using interferometric synthetic aperture radar measurements taken between 2010 and 2017. We calculate an overall mass loss rate of  -22+/-6 Gt a−1, corresponding to a sea level rise contribution of 0.06±0.02 mm a−1. Compared to measurements prior to 2010, mass loss of glaciers on the Russian archipelagos has doubled in recent years.

How to cite.
Sommer, C., Seehaus, T., Glazovsky, A., and Braun, M. H.: Brief communication: Increased glacier mass loss in the Russian High Arctic (2010–2017), The Cryosphere, 16, 35–42, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-16-35-2022, 2022.
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kassy

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Re: Glaciers and ice caps of the Russian Arctic
« Reply #3 on: August 09, 2023, 06:02:16 PM »
‘Blood-Red’ Siberian Glacier Sparks Fears of Faster Melting

A Siberian glacier has turned crimson red from algae bloom, raising the likelihood of even faster ice melt than at the current rate triggered by climate change, Russian scientists warned Monday.

Red algae covers glaciers in the Altai Mountains near Russia’s borders with Kazakhstan and Mongolia every year, Tomsk State University’s (TSU) Faculty of Geology and Geography said in a statement.

“But such a large-scale phenomenon has not been observed in more than 10 years,” said Alexander Yerofeyev, the head of TSU’s Laboratory of Glacioclimatology.

Footage from his recent expedition posted on the university’s YouTube page showed streaks of red across a large area of the Vodopadny glacier.

The phenomenon, known as “watermelon snow” or “blood snow,” is a common summertime occurrence in alpine and coastal polar regions around the world.

Yerofeyev said a sample of the red algae collected from the Vodopadny glacier was sent for identification to TSU’s biology institute.

He hypothesized that the samples are likely cold-loving algae called Chlamydomonas invalis, which are known to give the snow a red pigmentation, darkening the surface of a glacier and contributing to accelerated ice melt.

The glacier melt would further contribute to the ongoing loss of ice in the group of glaciers known as Aktru, which includes the Vodopadny glacier. One of the group’s glaciers, the Leviy Aktru, has lost more than 25% of its mass over the past 60 years, according to TSU.

The algae appear to have thrived in the 30-year record snowfall that remained in the Altai glaciers well into July, Yerofeyev said, adding that TSU scientists are yet to definitively establish the cause of the mass algae bloom.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/08/08/blood-red-siberian-glacier-sparks-fears-of-faster-melting-a82089
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kiwichick16

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Re: Glaciers and ice caps of the Russian Arctic
« Reply #4 on: August 11, 2023, 10:22:30 PM »
@  Kassy  .... is the growth of algae on glaciers factored into the climate models?

kassy

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Re: Glaciers and ice caps of the Russian Arctic
« Reply #5 on: August 12, 2023, 02:31:18 PM »
No. The global models look at really large scale processes. Plus most of this is new and there is little data (and permafrost is not new but not really modelled either).

Of course you can add it into local models for Greenland or where ever you have data.
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kiwichick16

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Re: Glaciers and ice caps of the Russian Arctic
« Reply #6 on: August 13, 2023, 07:48:47 AM »
@  kassy  .... so the models are underestimating reality ?

kassy

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Re: Glaciers and ice caps of the Russian Arctic
« Reply #7 on: August 13, 2023, 09:21:56 AM »
Þetta minnismerki er til vitnis um að við vitum hvað er að gerast og hvað þarf að gera. Aðeins þú veist hvort við gerðum eitthvað.