Specifications

3
GlacioBasis
The primary aim of the GlacioBasis monitoring programme at Zackenberg is to produce a
record of high quality glaciological observations from the A.P. Olsen Ice Cap and its
outlet glacier in the Zackenberg river basin. The A.P. Olsen Ice Cap is located at 74° 39’
N and 21° 42’ W. The summit reaches an elevation of 1425 m and the terminus of the
outlet glacier contributing to the Zackenberg river basin is at 525 m (figure 1).
Zackenberg Research Station is located SE of the site, approximately 35 km downstream.
The most direct access to the glacier terminus is through Store Sødal. The need to
measure winter accumulation requires fieldwork to be carried out during springtime,
immediately before the onset of significant snow melt. This timing is also necessary for
snow-mobile use, which greatly simplify access to the glacier and transport of equipment
and instrumentation. Fieldwork must be carried out every year in order to maintain the
stakes network operational and to service the automatic weather stations (AWS) on the
glacier.
Fig. 1 – Map of the investigated outlet glacier with the position of the stakes and AWS.
The severe scarceness of glacier mass balance measurements from glaciers and local ice
caps in East Greenland, the strong impact that local glaciers and ice caps outside the Ice
Sheet are expected to exert on sea level rise in the present century (Meier et al. 2007),
and the warming expected to occur in the Arctic (IPCC 2007) highlight the scientific
AWS2
AWS1
AWS3