Twenty years of cold surface layer thinning at Storglaciären, sub-Arctic Sweden, 1989-2009

Abstract

This paper presents the changes in the thermal structure of the polythermal glacier Storglaciären, northern Sweden, over the 20 year period 1989-2009 derived by comparing maps of the depth of the englacial transition between cold ice (permanently frozen) and temperate ice (which contains water inclusions). The maps are based on interpreted ice-penetrating radar surveys from 1989, 2001 and 2009. Complex thinning of the cold layer, first identified between 1989 and 2001, is still ongoing. A volume calculation shows that Storglaciären has lost one-third of its cold surface layer volume in 20 years, with a mean thinning rate of 0.80±0.24ma -1. We suggest that the thinning of the cold layer at Storglaciären is connected to the climatic warming experienced by sub-Arctic Scandinavia since the 1980s and we argue that repeated ice-penetrating radar surveys over the ablation area of polythermal glaciers offer a useful proxy for evaluating glacier responses to changes in climate.