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© 2024. This work is published under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

We present an extensive dataset of ice thickness measurements from Jostedalsbreen ice cap, mainland Europe's largest glacier. The dataset consists of more than 351 000 point values of ice thickness distributed along 1100 km profile segments that cover most of the ice cap. Ice thickness was measured during field campaigns in 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2023 using various ground-penetrating radar (GPR) systems with frequencies ranging between 2.5 and 500 MHz. A large majority of the ice thickness observations were collected in spring using either snowmobiles (90 %) or a helicopter-based radar system (8 %), while summer measurements were carried out on foot (2 %). To ensure accessibility and ease of use, metadata were attributed following the GlaThiDa dataset (GlaThiDa Consortium, 2020) and follow the FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable) guiding principles. Our findings show that glacier ice of more than 400 m thickness is found in the upper regions of large outlet glaciers, with a maximum ice thickness of 630 m in the accumulation area of Tunsbergdalsbreen. Thin ice of less than 50 m covers narrow regions joining the central part of Jostedalsbreen with its northern and southern parts, making the ice cap vulnerable to break-up with future climate warming. Using the point values of ice thickness as input to an ice thickness model, we computed 10 m grids of ice thickness and bed topography that cover the entire ice cap. From these distributed datasets, we find that Jostedalsbreen (458 km2 in 2019) has a present ( 2020) mean ice thickness of 154 ± 22 m and an ice volume of 70.6 ± 10.2 km3. Locations of depressions in the map of bed topography are used to delineate potential future lakes, consequently providing a glimpse of the landscape if the entire Jostedalsbreen melts away. Together, the comprehensive ice thickness point values and ice-cap-wide grids serve as a baseline for future climate change impact studies at Jostedalsbreen. All data are available for download at 10.58059/yhwr-rx55 (Gillespie et al., 2024).

Details

Title
Ice thickness and bed topography of Jostedalsbreen ice cap, Norway
Author
Gillespie, Mette K 1 ; Andreassen, Liss M 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Huss, Matthias 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; de Villiers, Simon 1 ; Sjursen, Kamilla H 1 ; Aasen, Jostein 2 ; Bakke, Jostein 4   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Cederstrøm, Jan M 4 ; Elvehøy, Hallgeir 2 ; Kjøllmoen, Bjarne 2 ; Loe, Even 5 ; Meland, Marte 6 ; Melvold, Kjetil 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Nerhus, Sigurd D 1 ; Røthe, Torgeir O 1 ; Støren, Eivind W N 7 ; Øst, Kåre 8 ; Yde, Jacob C 1 

 Department of Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Sogndal, 6856, Norway 
 Section for Glaciers, Ice and Snow, Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE), Oslo, 0301, Norway 
 Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW), ETH Zurich, Zurich, 8092, Switzerland; Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (WSL), Birmensdorf, 8903, Switzerland; Department of Geosciences, University of Fribourg, Fribourg, 1700, Switzerland 
 Department of Earth Science and the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Bergen, 5020, Norway 
 Statkraft, Gaupne, 6868, Norway 
 Breheimsenteret, Jostedalen, 6871, Norway 
 Department of Earth Science and the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research, University of Bergen, Bergen, 5020, Norway; COWI, Bergen, 5824, Norway 
 Norgesguidene, Jostedalen, 6871, Norway 
Pages
5799-5825
Publication year
2024
Publication date
2024
Publisher
Copernicus GmbH
ISSN
18663508
e-ISSN
18663516
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
3147322478
Copyright
© 2024. This work is published under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.