.png)
.png)
.png)
Email this article 
The Hoffman Glacier in the Subpolar Urals: current state and response to climate change
https://doi.org/10.7868/S2412376525040037
Abstract
This paper presents the results of a quantitative assessment of changes of the Hoffman Glacier, the largest glacier in the Subpolar Urals, occurring over the period 1951–2024. Aerial photographs from 1951, current Sentinel‑2 satellite images, laser rangefinder data from the ICEsat‑2 satellite, as well as historical and modern ground-based photographs were used. The results show that in 1951 glacier area was 0.36±3% km2. This value was almost identical to the results of a ground-based phototheodolite survey of the glacier area carried out in 1929. By 2024, the glacier area had decreased by 33% and amounted to 0.24±8% km2. The reduction in the glacier area was accompanied by a decrease in its surface height. Over 73 years (1951–2024), the glacier surface elevation on the ICESat‑2 profile decreased by 45±11 m and reached the altitude of 647±11 m. The average rate of the surface lowering amounted to 0.6 m/year. A comparative analysis of the dynamics of changes in the Hoffman Glacier size and climate data in this region suggests that the conditions for the existence of glaciers in this region have significantly worsened at the turn of the centuries. With a relative stability of winter precipitation, the number of years with positive temperature anomalies in summertime has sharply increased (with a continuous series of such anomalies since 2003). In addition, a certain increase in the short-wave radiation caused by reduction in the cloudiness has been observed over the past 20 years. The rise in summer air temperatures and the increase in the shortwave radiation cause the glacier mass balance to become even more negative and the rate of its shrinkage to increase. How long the Hoffman Glacier will remain in its cirque part will dependon the further development of the climate scenario.
About the Authors
G. A. NosenkoRussian Federation
Moscow
A. F. Glazovsky
Russian Federation
Moscow
I. A. Korneva
Russian Federation
Moscow
A. A. Grigoriev
Russian Federation
Yekaterinburg
E. I. Shubnitsina
Russian Federation
Vuktyl
References
1. Aleshkov A.N. Mount Sabre and its glaciers. Trudy lednikovykh ekspeditsiy. Proceedings of glacial expeditions. Leningrad: TSUEGMS. 1935, 4: 56–74. [In Russian].
2. Glazovsky A.F., Nosenko G.A., Tsvetkov D.G. Ural glaciers: Сurrent state and evolutionary prospects. Materialy glyatsiologicheskikh issledovaniy. Data of Glaciological Studies. 2005, 98: 207–213. [In Russian].
3. Hoffman E.K. Severnyj Ural i beregovoj hrebet Paj-Hoj. Northern Urals and the Pai-Khoi Coastal Ridge. Vol. 2. Saint Petersburg: Printing House of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, 1856: 376 р. [In Russian]
4. Dolgushin L.D., Kemmerich A.O. New glaciers in the Urals. Izvestiya Ros. Akad. Nauk. Seriya geograficheskaya. Proc. of RAS. Geographical series. 1957, 6: 67–78 [In Russian]
5. Dolgushin L.D. Ural glaciers and some features of their evolution. Voprosy fizicheskoy geografii Urala. Questions of physical geography of the Urals. Moscow: MOIP, 1960: 33–60. [In Russian]
6. Dolgushin L.D., Osipova G.B. New glaciers on the TelposIz ridge. Materialy glyatsiologicheskikh issledovaniy. Data of Glaciological Studies. 1979, 36: 214–218. [In Russian].
7. Katalog lednikov SSSR. USSR Glacier Inventory. V. 3. Northern Edge. Is. 3 Ural. Leningrad: Hydrometeoizdat, 1966: 52 p. [In Russian].
8. Lavrentiev I.I., Nosenko G.A., Glazovsky A.F., Shein A.N., Ivanov M.N., Leopold Y.K.Ice and snow thickness of the IGAN Glacier in the Polar Urals from groundbased radio-echo sounding 2019 and 2021. Led i Sneg. Ice and Snow. 2023, 63 (1): 5–16. https://doi.org/10.31857/S2076673423010106 [In Russian].
9. Nesterov E.S. Severoatlanticheskoe kolebanie: atmosfera i okean. North Atlantic Oscillation: Atmosphere and Ocean. Moscow: Triada, LTD, 2013: 144 p. [In Russian].
10. Nosenko G.A., Muraviev A.Y., Ivanov M.N., Sinitsky A.I., Kobelev V.O., Nikitin S.A. Response of the Polar Urals glaciers to the modern climate changes. Led i Sneg. Ice and Snow. 2020, 60 (1): 42–57. https://doi.org/10.31857/S2076673420010022 [In Russian].
11. Nosenko G.A., Nosenko O.A. Snow cover of the Polar Urals according to modern microwave surveys AMSRE. Materialy glyatsiologicheskikh issledovaniy. Data of Glaciological Studies. 2006, 101: 176–183. [In Russian].
12. Troitsky L.S., Khodakov V.G., Mikhalev V.I., Guskov A.S., Lebedeva I.M., Adamenko V.N., Zhivkovich L.A. Oledenenie Urala. The glaciation of the Urals. Moscow: Nauka, 1966: 355 p. [In Russian].
13. Shein A.N., Ivanov M.N., Nosenko G.A., Lavrentyev I.I. Studies of the IGAN, Anuchin and Fotogeodesistov glaciers in 2023. Nauchnyy vestnik YamaloNenetskogo avtonomnogo okruga. Scientific Bulletin of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. 2024, 1 (124): 50–68. https://doi.org/10.26110/ARCTIC.2024.122.1.004 [In Russian].
14. Khodakov V.G. Vodno-ledovyj balans rajonov sovremennogo i drevnego oledenenija SSSR. Water-ice balance of areas of modern and ancient glaciation of the USSR. Moscow: Nauka, 1978: 192 р. [In Russian].
15. Bladé I., Liebmann B., Fortuny D., Oldenborgh G.J. Observed and simulated impacts of the summer NAO in Europe: implications for projected drying in the Mediterranean region. Climate dynamics. 2012, 39: 709–727.
16. climatereanalyzer.org: official site. Retrieved from: URL: https://climatereanalyzer.org/research_tools/monthly_tseries. Last access: April 18, 2025.
17. Dussaillant I., Hugonnet R., Huss M., Berthier E., Bannwart J., Paul F., Zemp M. Annual mass change of the world’s glaciers from 1976 to 2024 by temporal downscaling of satellite data with in situ observations. Earth Syst. Sci. Data. 1977–2006, 2025: 17 (5) https://doi.org/10.5194/essd 17-1977-2025, 2025
18. ECMWF ERA5 (0.5 × 0.5 deg). Retrieved from: https://climatereanalyzer.org/reanalysis/monthly_tseries. Last access: May 20, 2025.
19. Folland C.K., Knight J., Linderholm H.W., Fereday D., Ineson S., Hurrel J.W. The summer North Atlantic Oscillation: Рast, present, and future. Journ. of Climate. 2009, 22 (5): 1082–1103.
20. glaciercasualtylist.rice.edu: official site. Retrieved from: https://glaciercasualtylist.rice.edu. Last access: April 18, 2025.
21. IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Climate Change 2023: Synthesis Report. Contribution of Working Groups I, II and III to the Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Geneva, IPCC. 2023: 1–34. https://doi.org/10.59327/IPCC/AR6-9789291691647.001
22. ICESat 2. Retrieved from: https://openaltimetry.earthdatacloud.nasa.gov/data/icesat2. Last access: April 18, 2025.
23. Korneva I.A., Toropov P.A., Muraviev A.Y., Aleshina M.A. Climatic factors affecting Kamchatka glacier recession. International Journal of Climatology. 2024, 44 (2): 345–369.
24. Liu Q., Bader J., Jungclaus J.H., Matei D. More extreme summertime North Atlantic Oscillation under climate change. Communications Earth and Environment. 2025, 6: 474. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02422x
25. Liu L., Wu B., Ding S. Combined impact of summer NAO and northern Russian shortwave cloud radiative effect on Eurasian atmospheric circulation. Environmental research letters. 2023, 18: 014015.
26. NAO Index. Retrieved from: NAO Index Data provided by the Climate Analysis Section, NCAR, Boulder, USA, Hurrell (2003). Last access: February 25, 2025.
27. NASA: official site. Retrieved from: https://openaltimetry.earthdatacloud.nasa.gov/data/icesat2. Last access: April 18, 2025.
28. Sentinel 2. Retrieved from: https://browser.dataspace.copernicus.eu. Last access: May 21, 2025.
29. Toropov P.A., Aleshina M.A., Grachev A.M. Large-scale climatic factors driving glacier recession in the Greater Caucasus, 20th–21st century. International Journal of Climatology. 2019, 39: 4703–4720.
30. Zemp M., Gärtner-Roer I., Nussbaumer S.U., Welty E.Z., Dussaillant I., Bannwart J. WGMS 2023. Global Glacier Change Bulletin. (2020–2021). ISC(WDS)/IUGG(IACS)/UNEP/UNESCO/WMO, World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich, Switzerland. 2020–2021, 5: 134 p. https://doi.org/10.5904/wgms-fog2023-09
Supplementary files
For citation: Nosenko G.A., Glazovsky A.F., Korneva I.A., Grigoriev A.A., Shubnitsina E.I. The Hoffman Glacier in the Subpolar Urals: current state and response to climate change. Ice and Snow. 2025;65(4):557-572. https://doi.org/10.7868/S2412376525040037
Refbacks
- There are currently no refbacks.
ISSN 2076-6734 (Print)
ISSN 2412-3765 (Online)