glacier surge

Imaggeo on Mondays: Up close and personal with Svalbard glaciers

Matt Trevers April 29, 2019

Up close and personal. Credit: Matt Trevers (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

A University Centre in Svalbard (UNIS) Glaciology student examines the calving front of the Paulabreen glacier [in Spitsbergen, Svalbard], taking advantage of sea ice in the Rindersbukta fjord to safely approach the front. Paulabreen is a surge-type glacier, which means that it periodically switches between long periods of slow, stable flow to short-lived periods of very fast flow during which it ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Wandering the frozen Svalbard shore

Matt Trevers December 17, 2018

Wandering the frozen shore. Credit: Matt Trevers (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

These ethereal, twisted ice sculptures litter the frozen shoreline of Tempelfjorden, Svalbard, giving the landscape an otherworldly feel and creating a contrast with the towering ice cliff of the glacier and the mountains behind. They are natural flotsam, the scoured remnants of icebergs calved from the Tunabreen glacier, washed up on the shoreline. These icebergs were calved from the Tunabreen gl ...[Read More]

Imaggeo on Mondays: Digging out a glacier’s story

Monika Mendelova July 30, 2018

Digging out the story of a glacier. Credit: Monika Mendelova (distributed via imaggeo.egu.eu)

This photograph shows landforms on Coraholmen Island in Ekmanfjorden, one of the fjords found in the Norwegian archipelago, Svalbard. These geomorphic features were formed by Sefströmbreen, a tidewater glacier, when it surged in the 1880s. Although all glaciers flow, some glaciers undergo cyclic changes in their flow. This is called surging, and glaciers that surge are called surging glaciers. Dur ...[Read More]