SVALI (Stability and Variations of Arctic Land Ice)
Project description
The Stability and Variations of Arctic Land Ice (SVALI) Nordic Centre of Excellence (NCoE) is based on multidisciplinary and cross-national science collaboration.
The recent warming of the Earth has led to changes in the cryosphere - the part of the Earth System where water occurs in its frozen form - causing an increased flux of meltwater and icebergs from glaciers, and a rising sea level. Increased freshwater discharge to the oceans also impacts ocean circulation as well as the Arctic Hydrological Cycle.
These changes are happening more rapidly than predicted. In order to be able to foresee future sea level rise, it is necessary to strive for a better understanding of glaciological processes, and to include them in Earth System Models.
The NCoE SVALI takes on the task to answer these key questions:
How fast is land ice volume in the Arctic and North-Atlantic area changing, and why?
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Will these processes continue to accelerate?
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What are the consequences for sea-level and ocean circulation
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What are the implications for society?
Nordic researchers are uniquely positioned to play a leading role in this research, and NCoE SVALI will constitute a platform for joint process studies, analyses, sharing of methods, researcher training and outreach activities to spread information about the scientific results.
Sub-projects:
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Lomonosovfonna - Mass Flux through Nordenskiöldbreen
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Tunabreen - Self-organised criticality of calving glaciers supported by observation
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Kronebreen - Seasonal evolution of basal friction coefficients using Elmer/ICE