The Influence of Melt on a Glacier’s Velocity

Abstract

One of the consequences of global warming is the increase of melt on glaciers. This increase of melt could cause the glacier to move faster in the ablation zone and the glacier could decrease faster in size. The main question asked in this thesis is: what influence does the melt have on the velocity of a glacier? The data shows that the melt only has a short term impact on the velocity. Annual average velocities do not seem to be influenced by the melt, at least not such a big enough influence that it shows in these observations. The data is also used to look at trends in velocity, but no significant trend in the velocity was found over the years 2007-2014. The mass balance of the glacier is used to calculate the total melt of the glacier per year. This total melt per year does not show a significant relation to the average velocity per year.