Glacier balance trends in the Kongsfjorden area, western Spitsbergen, Svalbard, in relation to the climate

For the last thirty years, the mean net balance of two glaciers, Austre Bro ggerbreen and Midre Lovenbreen, has been -0.43 and -0.34m of water equivale nt (w.e.), respectively. The mean net balance of Kongsvegen, a tidewater gl acier that has been measured since 1987, is 0.11 m w.e. The negative balanc es of the two first glaciers are driven by the increase in atmospheric temp erature which occurred at the end of the Little Ice Age at the beginning of the century. The positive balance of Kongsvegen is due to its higher eleva tion and larger accumulation area. There is no significant trend in the net balances and no increase of the melting has been detected during the last thirty years. A correlation coefficient of R = 0.83 has been obtained between the net bal ance of Lovenbreen and the winter precipitation, together with the summer t emperature recorded at the neighbouring station of Ny-Angstrom lesund since 1969. With 14 years of data, the correlation coefficient between the net b alance and climatic parameters does not increase consistently by introducin g any radiation component, but the coefficient correlation between the summ er balance of Austre Broggerbreen and summer temperature increases from 0.6 8 to 0.77 when introducing global and long-wave radiation for July and Augu st. Weather conditions and the frequency of their changes influence the bal ance between global and long-wave radiation and changes in albedo values.