Franz josef land5/20/2023 ![]() A new analysis finds melting at Russian Arctic glaciers is speeding. Historically, ice wastage from FJL is thought to have been relatively small, but accelerating ice loss may be the new normal for this archipelago in a warming Arctic. Franz Josef Land is located between the islands of Svalbard to the west and the islands of Severnaya Zemlya to the east. Franz Josef Land Scientists just discovered that parts of the Arctic are heating up. Glacier retreat is widespread and has led to the creation of at least one new island. We observe glacier thinning rates of up to 10 m per year, and in general we see a trend of increased thinning from the NE towards the SW. Studies of Franz Josef Land have actually contributed to a larger understanding of when that massive ice sheet began its slow retreat. Glacier thinning rates are spatially highly variable. ![]() This 2011−2015 rate indicates an acceleration in ice loss from that observed in 2003–2009 by multiple studies using ICESat and GRACE. Franz Josef Land is a 192-island archipelago in the Russian High Arctic above the Arctic circle. Mass loss from FJL doubled between 20 compared to 1953–2011/2015, increasing from a rate of −2.18 ± 0.72 Gt yr −1 to −4.43 ± 0.78 Gt yr −1. There are no endemic bird species within Franz Josef Land, but 31 species have been documented and some of which breed there. We analyze ice surface elevation data derived from satellite stereo imagery (WorldView and SPOT), radar altimetry (CryoSat-2), and a digitized 1953 cartographic map to calculate elevation change rates d h d t. Franz Josef Land, Frantz Iosef Land, Franz Joseph Land or Francis Josephs Land is a Russian archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. The glaciers of the Franz Josef Land (FJL) archipelago in the Russian Arctic are subjected to rapidly-warming temperatures but are small contributors to sea level. Roughly 1,000km from the North Pole lies Franz Josef Land, the world’s northernmost archipelago almost entirely covered by ice.
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