Austre Lovenbreen Glacier Snow Cover and Mass Balance Measurements, 2008-2012

The Hydro-Sensor-FLOWS program monitored snow cover and mass balance on the Austre Lovenbreen glacier in Svalbard. Forty 10-meter stakes were installed for annual measurements, supplemented by snow core sampling campaigns from 2008 to 2010. The data consists of stake height measurements and corresponding snow core data, processed and made available by the SCIOPS organization around 2011-2012.

Use Cases

• Modeling glacier mass balance based on annual stake height measurements.
• Analyzing snowpack dynamics based on snow core sampling campaigns.
• Quantifying snow melt contribution to basin hydrology based on stake and core data.
• Tracking annual glacier evolution based on September stake measurements.

Strengths

• Forty measurement stakes provide spatial coverage across the glacier.
• Snow core sampling campaigns were conducted: 2 in 2008, 10 in 2009, and 9 or 10 in 2010.
• Annual measurements at the end of the hydrological year (September) provide a consistent temporal baseline.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Last update date is unknown; freshness unverified.

Provenance

Source

SCIOPS

Collection Method

Field measurements from stakes and snow core sampling using a PICO drill.

Time Range

2008 to 2012

Geography

Austre Lovenbreen glacier, Svalbard, 79°N