Updating north Atlantic glacier length records from optical satellite images

Kjersti Sørlie Rimer/Cecilie Rolstad

Jan Mayen 2002 Foto: Landsat ETM+

Glacier length records are used to construct the temperature history from different parts of the world (Oerlemans, 2005, www.sciencemag.org). Using 169 glacier length records Oerlemans found that moderate global warming started in the middle of the 19th century. The reconstructed warming in the first half of the 20th century is 0.5 kelvin. Glacier lengths can readily be mapped in optical satellite images.

The glaciers boundaries of Jan Mayen are mapped in a Landsat ETM+ image from 2002 and compared to the 1949 boundaries mapped by the Norwegian Polar Institute in aerial photographs. In 1949 the glacier was at the smallest extend ever recorded, some glacier advanced in the seventies, and in 2002 they have all retreated to the 1949 position and some even further. The 2002 glacier area is thus thee smallest ever mapped.

In cooperation with Professor Johannes Oerlemans, Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research, Utrecht University, the Netherlands.

Project period: 2006 – 2007

Contact person: Cecilie Rolstad cecilie.rolstad@umb.no



Oppdatert: 23.03.07
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