Climate, hydrology and sediment transfer process interactions in a sub-polar glacier basin, Svalbard
Climate, hydrology and sediment transfer process interactions in a sub-polar glacier basin, Svalbard
There have been very few studies of the interactions between climate, hydrology and sediment transfer processes in polar or sub-polar glacier basins. This thesis, based upon field observations in the Austre Broggerbreen basin, Svalbard, presents the most comprehensive and detailed study to date, and thus provides a broad base from which future, more specific research studies can be developed.
Two field seasons (1991 and 1992) of time series observations of climatic inputs (incident radiation, precipitation, wind speed and direction, atmospheric humidity and air temperature), and of proglacial meltwater characteristics (river discharge, electrical conductivity, concentrations of specific solutes and of suspended sediments) at two river monitoring stations (the Upper Site, close to the glacier snout, and the Lower Site, approximately 2 km downstream which receives both glacial and sandur drainage) are presented. Information from these time series observations and their interrelationships is complemented by shorter-term studies of water quality at sites on the glacier surface, within the active layer of the sandur and at a variety of locations in the proglacial drainage network.
Analysis of the data sets indicate that the solute content of meltwaters is governed by the removal of solutes from the snowpack and the chemical weathering of sediments. During the early phases of the ablation season, solute concentrations in the proglacial stream are strongly influenced by the leaching of solutes from the snowpack. The leaching process progresses gradually up-basin with the altitudinal movement of the melting front so that soon after onset of snowmelt, initial melt, high in concentrations of snowmelt ions from the glacier surface is diluted by earlier melt, with lower solute concentration, from the leached proglacial snowpack. As the melt from advances up-glacier, an increasing proportion of the proglacial meltwater is supplied from the leached snowpack and glacier ice. The meltwater, therefore, becomes progressively dilute in terms of snowmelt ions during transit from the glacial portion of the catchment to the proglacial river.
University of Southampton
Hodson, Andrew Jonathan
50b896b4-c9f5-44ab-a56b-96dc33cfe8fb
1994
Hodson, Andrew Jonathan
50b896b4-c9f5-44ab-a56b-96dc33cfe8fb
Hodson, Andrew Jonathan
(1994)
Climate, hydrology and sediment transfer process interactions in a sub-polar glacier basin, Svalbard.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
There have been very few studies of the interactions between climate, hydrology and sediment transfer processes in polar or sub-polar glacier basins. This thesis, based upon field observations in the Austre Broggerbreen basin, Svalbard, presents the most comprehensive and detailed study to date, and thus provides a broad base from which future, more specific research studies can be developed.
Two field seasons (1991 and 1992) of time series observations of climatic inputs (incident radiation, precipitation, wind speed and direction, atmospheric humidity and air temperature), and of proglacial meltwater characteristics (river discharge, electrical conductivity, concentrations of specific solutes and of suspended sediments) at two river monitoring stations (the Upper Site, close to the glacier snout, and the Lower Site, approximately 2 km downstream which receives both glacial and sandur drainage) are presented. Information from these time series observations and their interrelationships is complemented by shorter-term studies of water quality at sites on the glacier surface, within the active layer of the sandur and at a variety of locations in the proglacial drainage network.
Analysis of the data sets indicate that the solute content of meltwaters is governed by the removal of solutes from the snowpack and the chemical weathering of sediments. During the early phases of the ablation season, solute concentrations in the proglacial stream are strongly influenced by the leaching of solutes from the snowpack. The leaching process progresses gradually up-basin with the altitudinal movement of the melting front so that soon after onset of snowmelt, initial melt, high in concentrations of snowmelt ions from the glacier surface is diluted by earlier melt, with lower solute concentration, from the leached proglacial snowpack. As the melt from advances up-glacier, an increasing proportion of the proglacial meltwater is supplied from the leached snowpack and glacier ice. The meltwater, therefore, becomes progressively dilute in terms of snowmelt ions during transit from the glacial portion of the catchment to the proglacial river.
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Published date: 1994
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Local EPrints ID: 462844
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/462844
PURE UUID: bd091213-d23b-473a-b063-06fbcd88a055
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Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 20:14
Last modified: 23 Jul 2022 01:08
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Author:
Andrew Jonathan Hodson
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