Glacier surface mass balance for Storglaciären, Northern Sweden

Tarfala Research Station staff

This dataset contains the annual surface mass balance for Storglaciären, obtained from the direct glaciological method, since 1946 and updated annually.

The data is specified as annual winter balance, summer balance, and net balance, and amended by cumulative net mass balance.

The surface mass balance of Storglaciären is a unique long-term observational measurement series, maintained by staff of Stockholm University’s Tarfala Research Station. The surface mass balance is derived from a detailed grid of individual measurement points (ca 70 stake points, and ca 260 sonding points, with slight variations over time) across the entire glacier.

Storglaciären is one of Sweden’s four so-called reference glaciers (glaciers for which more than 30 years of continuous measurements are available) included in the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) database. The surface mass balance series for Storglaciären is also the World’s longest detailed one.

TerrestrialGlaciersGlacier surface mass balanceCumulative mass balanceReference glaciersStorglaciärenTarfalaArcticAlpine

Name

Version

Citation

References

World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) (2024) Fluctuations of Glaciers Database [dataset]. World Glacier Monitoring Service. https://doi.org/10.5904/WGMS-FOG-2024-01

Cogley JG, Hock R, Rasmussen LA, Arendt AA, Bauder A, Braithwaite RJ, JanssonP, Kaser G, Möller M, Nicholson L, Zemp M (2011) Glossary of Glacier Mass Balance and Related Terms, IHP-VII Technical Documents in Hydrology No. 86, IACS Contribution No. 2, UNESCO-IHP, Paris. https://wgms.ch/downloads/Cogley_etal_2011.pdf

Data description

The dataset is provided in one comma-separated values (csv) file having the following columns:

• year year of the measurements. The year indicates the end-year of the glaciological balance year, which extends across two consecutive calendar years.
• winter_balance mass change at the end of winter (typically, around the month of april) in the current glaciological balance year, given in meter water equivalent (m w.e.)
• summer_balance mass change at the end of summer (typically, around the month of september) in the current glaciological balance year (in m w.e.)
• net_balance total mass change (winter balance plus summer balance) over the glaciological balance year (in m w.e.)
• cumulative_net cumulative sum of the annual net balances (in m w.e.)

See Cogley et al. (2011) for explanation of glaciological terminology.

Comments

This dataset contains the glacier-wide surface mass balance. This means that an average is presented which is derived from all individual measurement locations, where the so-called point mass balance is established. The point mass balance is reported annually to the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS), where also other information, such as uncertainties associated with measurements, are reported. In the WGMS database, Storglaciären has identification number 332. In the current version of the WGMS database (WGMS, 2024), Storglaciären’s mass balance ends in 2023, but data for 2024 has been reported to WGMS in December 2024 and will be included in updated versions of the WGMS dataset.

Over the years, staff of Tarfala Research Station has dedicated huge efforts to maintaining this unique measurement series. Please acknowledge Tarfala Research Station and Stockholm University when using this dataset.

Publisher

Bolin Centre Database

License

First name

Nina

Last name or organisation

Kirchner

Email address

nina.kirchner@su.se

Address

Tarfala Research Station and Department of Physical Geography; Stockholm University

Postal code

SE-106 91

City

Stockholm

Country

Sweden

GCMD science keyword

Earth science > Climate indicators > Cryospheric indicators > Glacial measurements > Glacier mass balance/ice sheet mass balance

GCMD location

Continent > Europe > Northern Europe > Scandinavia > Sweden

Dataset language

English

Begin date

1946-01-01

End date

2024-12-31

DOI

Time