Stan i współczesne zmiany systemów lodowcowych południowego Spitsbergenu w świetle badań metodami radarowymi

Abstract

The book presents the interactions that take place in the glacial systems and defines the mechanisms that control these processes. The purpose of this book is to investigate how glacial systems react to changing climate. The conducted analysis applied a set of field studies from 2007-2014 carried out in southern Spitsbergen between van Keulenfjorden fiords in the North and Hornsund in the South. The widely applied radar sounding is an effective research method in the glaciated areas thanks to its noninvasiveness, mobility, wide depth range of the survey area constituting the glacial system, as well as simplicity in distinguishing the structures within the glacier due to their contrastive dielectric properties. The analysis focused on the processes undergoing in particular components of the glacial system (i.e., snow cover, firn, the interior of the glacier in various hydrothermal states, water drainage system) that constitute a complex interacting with the natural surroundings and is thus conducive to the formation of a glaciosystem. The research shows the glacial systems of Svalbard as responding gradually to the relatively fast environmental changes. Hence the view of the glaciers as indicators of such changes needs to be regarded with caution and due consideration of their delayed response time under a given climate scenario and the potential process that might continue even after the factor that caused the changes has already ceased. The book is addressed to all the individuals who study glacial processes and the reaction of glacial complexes in the Arctic to the environmental changes, and to experts who use geophysical surveys, predominantly radar systems in the glaciated areas. It will also be of interest to aficionados of Earth’s frigid zones.