Loss of Snow Cover on Svalbard Glaciers Accelerated Loss Since the mid-1980s.

Nature Communications, September 14

Most of Svalbard’s glaciers and ice caps have lost the porous snow layer that previously protected them from yearly temperature fluctuations. This snow layer was lost below a critical altitude of 450 meters already in the 1980s, which rendered 60% of Svalbard’s ice highly vulnerable to further warming; starting a period of rapid ice mass loss. This decline in porous snow has continued to even higher altitudes over recent decades, putting nearly all ice on Svalbard at risk of loss, especially should current warming trends continue.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-18356-1

Compiled by Amy Imdieke.