Ny-Ålesund Mass Balance Fieldwork September 2005

In late-September I accompanied Dr. Jack Kohler of the Norwegian Polar Institute to Ny-Ålesund, Svalbard to participate in the fall mass balance studies.  Ny-Ålesund is in a beautiful natural setting, surrounding by mountains and glaciers.  This is a small scientific community that has between 20 and 100 inhabitants depending on what projects are in progress.  The community is of an international nature and includes instruments or stations from Norway, Germany, France, Great Britain, China, and Japan.  For a field station, Ny-Ålesund is extremely well equipped, including: high speed internet, a solarium, gymnasium, and extensive DVD library, as well as a bar that is open on Saturday nights.  There is also a store that opens twice a week, even if it only sells souvenirs, beer, and soda.  You get to know people quickly in this small community as all meals are shared. 

            My stay in Ny-Ålesund was short, just over a week.  The goal was to complete fall mass balance studies of four glaciers in the area: Midtre Lovenbreen, Kongsvegen, Holtedalfonna, and Brøggerbreen.  Mass balance is a simple way to keep track of whether a glacier is growing or shrinking.  A brief introduction into this technique is quite illuminating and shows how simple scientific measurements can give an important result.  Generally, glaciers can generally be divided into two zones, an ablation zone and accumulation zone.  In the accumulation zone snowfall exceeds melting and there is a net gain of snow and therefore mass.  In the ablation zone melting exceeds snowfall and therefore there is a net loss of snow and mass.  If the rate of melting in the ablation zone exceeds the rate of accumulation in the accumulation zone the glacier is shrinking and recedes.  If the opposite occurs the glacier grows and advances.  In order figure out whether the glacier is growing or shrinking we place stakes on glacier and measure the distance from the top of the stake to the ice surface twice a year.  That way we can develop a time series for the change of the ice surface at each stake.  Averaging all these changes together we can see if the glacier experiences a net loss of gain in mass.  Additionally, with the advent of GPS, we can locate these stakes extremely accurately and get an idea of how the glacier flows and calculate stress and strain rates in the glacier on a biannual basis.  We also measure the meteorological conditions on the glaciers from a network of weather stations, which are downloaded when we measure mass balance each spring and fall.  Finally, we compare these results to aerial photographs and satellite images which offer another confirmation of our results.  The mass balance records of Midtre Lovenbreen and Brøggerbreen are the oldest in the Arctic going back to the late 1960s.  They thus provide us with the longest existing record of how the glaciers react to changes in temperature.  It was exciting to be part of this legacy and continue to make these measurements. 

            Working in the vicinity of Ny-Ålesund is also a lot of fun.  Our daily routine consisted of gathering our equipment: ropes, crampons, rifle, radios, precision GPS, ruler, etc., and accessing the weather for the feasibility of a helicopter flight to the further away glaciers of Holtedalfonna and Kongsvegen.  It was quite cold for September and there was already a thick snow cover but not quite enough for snow mobiles.  On the first day we hiked on foot and quickly found that this was strenuous in the deep snow and not the best way to do things.  So from then on we used skis.  Having only a basic knowledge of cross-country skiing this was a steep learning curve for me.  I have since purchased a set of randonee skis which allow me to capitalize on my more extensive downhill experience.  Once on the glacier we go to each stake, measure the position with the GPS antenna, measure the amount of snow, and measure the distance to the ice surface with a ruler.   We compare our measurements to last year’s results while in the field to make sure there are no hugely unreasonable measurements.  If necessary we also repeat measurements on site to confirm our results.  Then each night, Dr. Kohler would do a preliminary mass balance calculation to see if results seemed reasonable and to determine if we needed to repeat measurements. 

            For me this was quite a bit of fun.  I got to ski around glaciers and admire nature for a week.  The helicopter rides were especially breathtaking and offered an awesome view.  Although my interest in studying glaciers is intrinsic and related to understanding their important and not completely understood role in affecting our climate, the opportunity to work outdoors in pristine areas is a nice bonus.  I won’t enjoy working permanently in a lab nearly as much as I have always had a love for the outdoors and although some people would call me crazy, for snow and ice.  Being surrounded by mountains covered in snow and ice while making contributions to an important scientific result confirmed that I wanted to make this into my career.  I look forward to the fieldwork in the spring where I will get to spend a month in this area and help on a variety of projects including: ice-penetrating radar, shallow ice coring, mass balance, and digging snow pits.  Enjoy the pictures below of the fabulous nature surrounding Ny-Ålesund. 

Click on the photo thumbnail for a larger version of the picture. 

Midtre Lovenbreen. 

Skiing on glaciers. 

An outlet glacier of Holtedalfonna.

Fieldwork with the helicopter.