Geodetic and satellite derived ice surface velocities of Vestfonna ice cap

During 2007 we launched a geodetic campaign on the Svalbard ice cap Vestfonna in order to estimate the velocity field of the ice cap. This was done within the frame of the IPY project KINNVIKA. We present here the velocity measurements derived from our campaigns 2007-2010 and compare the geodetic measurements against InSAR velocity fields from satellite platforms from 1995/96 and 2008. We find the spatial distribution of ice speeds from the InSAR is in good agreement within the uncertainty limits with our geodetic measurements. We observe no clear indication of seasonal ice speed differences, but we find a speed-up of the outlet glacier Franklinbreen between the InSAR campaigns, and speculate the outlet is having a surge phase.

Conservation Projects (ConPro) data base from The Nature Conservancy and others about the protected areas with analyzed Conservation Action Plans (CAP) before 2009 (Appendix 1) and after 2009 (Appendix 2)

It is widely recognized that climate change poses significant challenges to the conservation of biodiversity. The need of dealing with relatively rapid and uncertain environmental change calls for the enhancement of adaptive capacity of both biodiversity and conservation management systems. Under the hypothesis that most of the conventional biodiversity conservation tools do not sufficiently stimulate a dynamic protected area management, which takes rapid environmental change into account, we evaluated almost 900 of The Nature Conservancy's site-based conservation action plans. These were elaborated before a so-called climate clinic in 2009, an intensive revision of existing plans and a climate change training of the planning teams. We also compare these results with plans elaborated after the climate clinic. Before 2009, 20% of the CAPs employed the term "climate change" in their description of the site viability, and 45% identified key ecological attributes that are related to climate. 8% of the conservation strategies were directly or indirectly related to climate change adaptation. After 2009, a significantly higher percentage of plans took climate change into account. Our data show that many planning teams face difficulties in integrating climate change in their management and planning. However, technical guidance and concrete training can facilitate management teams learning processes. Arising new tools of adaptive conservation management that explicitly incorporate options for handling future scenarios, vulnerability analyses and risk management into the management process have the potential of further making protected area management more proactive and robust against change.

Geochemistry of frost flowers and snow obtained near Ahlmann summit, Vestfonna ice cap

The chemistry of snow and ice cores from Svalbard is influenced by variations in local sea ice margin and distance to open water. Snow pits sampled at two summits of Vestfonna ice cap (Nordaustlandet, Svalbard), exhibit spatially heterogeneous soluble ions concentrations despite similar accumulation rates, reflecting the importance of small-scale weather patterns on this island ice cap. The snow pack on the western summit shows higher average values of marine ions and a winter snow layer that is relatively depleted in sulphate. One part of the winter snow pack exhibits a [SO4-/Na+] ratio reduced by two thirds compared with its ratio in sea water. This low sulphate content in winter snow is interpreted as the signature of frost flowers, which are formed on young sea ice when offshore winds predominate. Frost flowers have been described as the dominant source of sea salt to aerosol and precipitation in ice cores in coastal Antarctica but this is the first time their chemical signal has been described in the Arctic. The eastern summit does not show any frost flower signature and we interpret the unusually dynamic ice transport and rapid formation of thin ice on the Hinlopen Strait as the source of the frost flowers.

Geochemistry and position of turbidites in the Cap Timiris Canyon off Mauritania

This study of sediments from the Cap Timiris Canyon demonstrates that geochemical data can provide reliable age-depth correlation even of highly turbiditic cores and attempts to improve our understanding of how turbidite emplacement is linked to climatic-related sea-level changes. The canyon incises the continental margin off NW Africa and is an active conduit for turbidity currents. In sediment cores from levee and intrachannel sites turbidites make up 6-42% of sediment columns. Age models were fitted to all studied cores by correlating downcore element data to dated reference cores, once turbidite beds had been removed from the dataset. These age models enabled us to determine turbidite emplacement times. The Cap Timiris Canyon has been active at least over the last 245 kyr, with turbidite deposition seemingly linked to stage boundaries and glacial stages. The highly turbiditic core from the intrachannel site postdates to ~15 kyr and comprises Holocene and late Pleistocene sediments. Turbidite deposition at this site was associated especially with the rapid sea-level rise at the Pleistocene/Holocene transition. During the Holocene, turbidity current activity decreased but did not cease.

Mass balance measurements on King George Island ice cap in 2007 and 2008

The Antarctic Peninsula has been identified as a region of rapid on-going climate change with impacts on the cryosphere. The knowledge of glacial changes and freshwater budgets resulting from intensified glacier melt is an important boundary condition for many biological and integrated earth system science approaches. We provide a case study on glacier and mass balance changes for the ice cap of King George Island. The area loss between 2000 and 2008 amounted to about 20 km**2 (about 1.6% of the island area) and compares to glacier retreat rates observed in previous years. Measured net accumulation rates for two years (2007 and 2008) show a strong interannual variability with maximum net accumulation rates of 4950 mm w.e./a and 3184 mm w.e./a, respectively. These net accumulation rates are at least 4 times higher than reported mean values (1926-95) from an ice core. An elevation dependent precipitation rate of 343 mm w.e./a (2007) and 432 mm w.e./a (2008) per 100 m elevation increase was observed. Despite these rather high net accumulation rates on the main ice cap, consistent surface lowering was observed at elevations below 270 m above ellipsoid over an 11-year period. These DGPS records reveal a linear dependence of surface lowering with altitude with a maximum annual surface lowering rate of 1.44 m/a at 40 m and -0.20 m/a at 270 m above ellipsoid. These results fit well to observations by other authors and surface lowering rates derived from the ICESat laser altimeter. Assuming that climate conditions of the past 11 years continue, the small ice cap of Bellingshausen Dome will disappear in about 285 years.

Present-day King George Island ice cap geometry measured by ground penetrating radar in 2008/09

We present a consistent data set for the ice thickness, the bedrock topography and the ice surface topography of the King George Island ice cap (Arctowski Icefield and the adjacent central part). The data set is composed of groundbased and airborne Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) and differential GPS (DGPS) measurements, obtained during several field campaigns. The data set incorporates groundbased measurements in the safely accessible inner parts and airborne measurements in the heavily crevassed coastal areas of the ice cap. In particular, the inclusion of airborne GPR measurements with the 30MHz BGR-P30-System developed at the Institute of Geophysics (University of Münster) completes the picture of the ice geometry substantially. The compiled digital elevation model of the bedrock shows a rough, highly variable topography with pronounced valleys, ridges, and troughs. The mean ice thickness is approx. 238m, with a maximum value of approx. 400m in the surveyed area. Noticeable are bounded areas in the bedrock topography below sea level where marine based ice exists.