Earth’s Cryosphere, 2021, vol. XXV, No. 3, pp. 43–51

SNOW COVER AND GLACIERS

CALCULATION OF THE HEAT BALANCE COMPONENTS OF THE ALDEGONDA GLACIER (WESTERN SPITSBERGEN) DURING THE ABLATION PERIOD ACCORDING TO THE OBSERVATIONS OF 2019

U.V. Prokhorova¹, A.V. Terekhov¹, B.V. Ivanov^1,2, S.R. Verkulich¹

¹ Arctic and Antarctic Research Institute, Bering str. 38, Saint Petersburg, 199397, Russia; uliana@niersc.spb.ru ² Saint Petersburg State University, Universitetskaya emb. 7/9, Saint Petersburg, 199011, Russia

Surface heat balance components have been calculated for the mountain valley Aldegonda Glacier (West Spitsbergen Island) based on a physical model with distributed parameters. The meteorological and actinometric observations on the glacier during the ablation period of 2019, a digital elevation model, as well as the remote sensing data needed for assessment of the reflective characteristics of the surface have been used as the input data. As a result of modeling, a spatial distribution of the values of the heat flux spent on melting with a resolution of one day has been obtained. According to the calculations, the average radiation balance for the period has been 89 W/m2, which is approximately an order of magnitude higher than the heat inflow from turbulent flows (11 W/m2). The obtained results have been verified using data on the glaciological mass balance monitoring based on ablation stakes. Predicted thickness of melted ice layer is in good agreement with the measurements on ablation stakes. The model systematically overestimates the magnitude of ice melt, but the glacier-average value remains within the confidence interval of the observed value.

Key words: Svalbard, mountain glacier, glacier ablation, heat balance, physical modelling