Svalbard Science Forum
Tromsö
April 27-29, 2011
Ice core and climate studies on Svalbard
Institute of Geology at Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia
Rein.Vaikmäe & Tõnu Martma
<rein.vaikmae@ttu.ee>
Outlines:
 Earlier studies (1975-2010)
 ESF SvalGlac Project
Main research directions of the
Department of Isotope Paleoclimatology, IG TUT
 Isotope-paleoclimatology, paleocryology and -paleohydrology;
application of isotopic methods in
Paleozoic stratigraphy, - climatology
and - oceanology
Laboratory environment
 Thermo Electron Corporation Delta Advantage
mass-spectrometer for isotope analyses of light
elements (H, C, N, O, S)
 Picarro Laser Analyser for O&H isotope
analyses in water samples
 Quantulus liquid-scintillation counter and
relevant sample preparation laboratory for
radiocarbon dating
 ion chromatography
 OSL and EPR dating
Lomonosovfonna 1976
Amundsenisen 1980
Amundsenisen 1980
Severnaja Zemlja 1979
icecore sampling
LGM
“Ledyanaya Gora” West -Siberia
Ice- wedges (Kolyma riverbank)
Antarctica Dome B
δ18O ~ -22‰
O
1981
o 1985
1987
1975
GronfjordbreenFridtjovbreen
1976 Lomonosovfonna
1980 Amundsenisen
2005
1981 Vestfonna
o 1976
1985;1987
Austfonna
1997
2009
o 1975
o 1980
1997; 2009
Lomonosovfonna
2005 Holtedahlfonna
Scientific objectives
The main goal has been to investigate and
quantify the present and the past 800 years
of climate by means of shallow and medium
depth ice core records from Svalbard
20th century
The last 600 years
Main conclusions up to now
 With careful site selection and with
detailed sampling Svalbard ice cores
can provide important information on
both local and regional climate
variability in the Arctic
“Austfonna crying”
(Aftenposten, 04.09.2009)
Main partners
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Norwegian Polar Institute
Arctic Center, Rovaniemi, Finland
University of Uppsala, Sweden
Tallinn University of Technology
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University of Utrecht, Holland,
University of Bern, Switzerland
University of Groningen, Holland
National Institute of Polar Research (NIPR), Japan
University of Pennsylvania, USA
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http://svalglac.eu/
The main objectives
 to obtain a reliable estimate of the total ice volume
stored in Svalbard;
 to estimate the recent past climate changes and
mass balance rates of Svalbard;
 to improve the process understanding related to
mass balance and ice dynamics;
 to model the expected response in surface mass
balance and calving flux rate under different
scenarios of climate change.
 The overriding goal is the knowledge and the
quantitative depiction of the Svalbard glacier
evolution model under the climate change condition.
The Partner Countries
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The SvalGlac consortium consists of eight partner countries and five associated partner countries.
Principal Investigators
Poland:
Jacek Jania (University of Silesia) - Project Coordinator
Piotr Głowacki (Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences)
Spain:
Francisco Navarro (Technical University of Madrid) - Co-coordinator
Sweden:
Veijo Pohjola and Rickard Pettersson
(University of Uppsala)
Peter Jansson (Stockholm University)
Germany:
Dieter Scherer (Technische Universität)
Matthias Braun (University of Bonn)
Christoph Schneider (RWTH Aachen University)
Austria:
Friedrich Obleitner (University of Innsbruck)
Estonia:
Rein Vaikmäe (Institute of Geology, Tallinn University of Technology)
Finland:
John Moore (Arctic Center)
Italy:
Daniela Mansutti (Instituto per le Applicazioni del Calcolo, Council for National Research)
Associated Partners
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Norway:
Jon Ove Hagen (University of Oslo)
Thomas V. Schuler (University of Oslo)
Andreas Kääb (University of Oslo)
Jack Kohler (Norwegian Polar Institute)
Elisabeth Isaksson (Norwegian Polar Institute)
Carl Egede Boggild (The University Centre in Svalbard)
the Netherlands:
Carleen Tijm-Reijmer and Michiel van den Broeke
(Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research)
the United States:
Regine Hock (University of Alaska)
Russia:
Andrey Glazovskiy (Russian Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography, Department
of Glaciology)
China:
Xiao Cheng (Beijing Normal University, College of Global Change and Earth System
Science)
ESF SvalGlac
 Thank you !