About SvalGlac Project

SvalGlac - the European Science Foundation Project is one of the six proposals implemented within the European Polar Board programme - PolarCLIMATE. It is financed by the national funding agencies and some polar ones, also outside of Europe, as partners. Principal investigators and associated partners represent thirteen countries.
Main Project objectives spread on two PolarCLIMATE themes:

1. Climate variability - Northern and Southern Hemisphere Oscillations, the scales and indicators of change and the forecasting of future threats and possibilities;
2. The current status of snow and ice in the Polar Regions, the spatial distribution and magnitude of cryospheric stability.

The area of the research activity is Svalbard - the Arctic archipelago. Its ice cover - large ice caps and outlet valley glaciers ending on the land and calving to fiords as well as small cirque glaciers - retreats as very sensitive environment elements to the climate warming. The calving flux assessment is an important part of the study and predicts the contribution of Svalbard glaciers in global sea level rise. Moreover, it will make possible to apply results into models to improve the forecasting of the glaciers evolution.

All the working groups participate in a set of complementary field, remote sensing and modelling programs using different methods and the research equipment.