Remote-Sensing Studies of Kvitøyjøkulen, an Ice Cap on Kvitøya, North-East Svalbard

Airborne 60 MHz radio echo-sounding data were collected over 250 km of flight track from an ice cap (Kvitøyjøkulen) on Kvitøya in north-eastern Svalbard. These were combined with Landsat imagery to provide ice-surface and bed topographic information and inferences about the thermal and climatic conditions on the ice cap. Quantitative analysis of radio-echo strength measurements and the existence of offshore plumes of sediment-laden melt water indicate significant basal melting and a warmer thermal regime than would be expected from the geographical location of the ice cap. Analysis of the dielectric absorption of radio waves by the ice and data from a recently recovered ice core from a neighbouring ice cap (Austfonna) suggest considerable anthropogenic contamination of the precipitation falling on Kvitøya, most probably originating from Eurasia.