Elevation of the ice-covered southern peak, Sydtoppen, of the Kebnekaise massif, Northern Sweden

Citation

Tarfala Research Station staff (2024) Elevation of the ice-covered southern peak, Sydtoppen, of the Kebnekaise massif, Northern Sweden. Dataset version 4. Bolin Centre Database. https://doi.org/10.17043/tarfala-sydtoppen-elevation-4

References

Holmlund P, Holmlund ES (2018) Recent climate-induced shape changes of the ice summit of Kebnekaise, Northern Sweden. Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography 101:68–78. https://doi.org/10.1080/04353676.2018.1542130

Data description

The data is provided in one csv file with four columns, separated by semicolon:

1. year [yyyy] Measurement year.
2. elevation [m] Elevation (meters above sea level).
3. date [yyyy-mm-dd] Measurement date.
4. method Measurement method, where dGPS stands for differential Global Positioning System.

The annual measurement series is not complete, but most years after 1968 have a data value. Measurement date and method is only provided from 2011 onwards.

Comments

Surveys of the elevation of Sydtoppen are carried out annually in late summer by staff at the Tarfala Research Station, which is the Stockholm University centre for glaciological and alpine research, and located in the Tarfala valley in the Kebnekaise massif.

Because the exact position of the peak may change from year-to-year due to changes in snow accumulation and wind direction, the position 67° 54’ N, 18° 31’ E (WGS84) is to be seen as an approximation whenever no exact annual position is reported. Shape changes of Sydtoppen are described in Holmlund and Holmlund (2018), who also report that the ice base of Sydtoppen is located at 2060 m a.s.l. (± 2 m).

Version history

Version 4

Data from 1951 to 2024.

Version 3

Data from 1951 to 2023.

Version 2

Data from 1951 to 2022.

Version 1

Initial release. Data from 1951 to 2021.