Academic literature on the topic 'Franz Josef Glacier'
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Journal articles on the topic "Franz Josef Glacier"
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Anderson, Brian, Wendy Lawson, Ian Owens, and Becky Goodsell. "Past and future mass balance of ‘Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere’ Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand." Journal of Glaciology 52, no. 179 (2006): 597–607. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/172756506781828449.
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AbstractDespite their relatively small total ice volume, mid-latitude valley glaciers are expected to make a significant contribution to global sea-level rise over the next century due to the sensitivity of their mass-balance systems to small changes in climate. Here we use a degree-day model to reconstruct the past century of mass-balance variation at ‘Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere’ Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand, and to predict how mass balance may change over the next century. Analysis of the relationship between temperature, precipitation and mass balance indicates that temperature is a stronger control than precipitation on the mass balance of Franz Josef Glacier. The glacier’s mass balance, relative to its 1986 geometry, has decreased at a mean annual rate of 0.02m a–1w.e. between 1894 and 2005. We compare this reduction to observations of terminus advance and retreat, of which Franz Josef Glacier has the best record in the Southern Hemisphere. For the years 2000–05 the relative mass balance ranged from –0.75 to +1.50m a–1w.e., with 2000/01 the only year showing a negative mass balance. In a regionally downscaled Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change mean warming scenario, the annual relative mass balance will continue to decrease at 0.02m a–1w.e. through the next century.
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Dowdeswell, Julian A., and Meredith Williams. "Surge-type glaciers in the Russian High Arctic identified from digital satellite imagery." Journal of Glaciology 43, no. 145 (1997): 489–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0022143000035097.
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AbstractLandsat digital imagery was used to search the island archipelagos of Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya and Novaya Zemlya, Russian High Arctic, for the presence of looped moraines characteristic of past glacier surges. The imagery provides almost complete summer-time coverage of the 60 000 km2of ice in these islands. very few surge-type glaciers are identified: none in Franz Josef Land, three in Novaya Zemlya and two on Severnaya Zemlya. This contrasts greatly with Svalbard (ice-covered area 36 600 km2), to the west, where 36% of glaciers and ice-cap drainage basins are inferred to surge. The strong climatic gradient across the Eurasian High Arctic, with decreasing temperature and moisture eastward, may provide a gross control on this pattern through colder glacier thermal structure, limiting basal drainage on the thinner ice masses in particular.
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Dowdeswell, Julian A., and Meredith Williams. "Surge-type glaciers in the Russian High Arctic identified from digital satellite imagery." Journal of Glaciology 43, no. 145 (1997): 489–94. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/s0022143000035097.
Full textAbstract:
AbstractLandsat digital imagery was used to search the island archipelagos of Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya and Novaya Zemlya, Russian High Arctic, for the presence of looped moraines characteristic of past glacier surges. The imagery provides almost complete summer-time coverage of the 60 000 km2 of ice in these islands. very few surge-type glaciers are identified: none in Franz Josef Land, three in Novaya Zemlya and two on Severnaya Zemlya. This contrasts greatly with Svalbard (ice-covered area 36 600 km2), to the west, where 36% of glaciers and ice-cap drainage basins are inferred to surge. The strong climatic gradient across the Eurasian High Arctic, with decreasing temperature and moisture eastward, may provide a gross control on this pattern through colder glacier thermal structure, limiting basal drainage on the thinner ice masses in particular.
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Kehrl, Laura M., Huw J. Horgan, Brian M. Anderson, Ruzica Dadic, and Andrew N. Mackintosh. "Glacier velocity and water input variability in a maritime environment: Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand." Journal of Glaciology 61, no. 228 (2015): 663–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/2015jog14j228.
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AbstractShort-term glacier velocity variations typically occur when a water input is accommodated by an increase in the subglacial water pressure. Although these velocity variations have been well documented on many glaciers, few studies have considered them on glaciers where heavy rain and glacier melt occur year-round. This study investigates the relationship between water inputs and glacier velocity on Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand. We installed six GNSS stations across the lower glacier during austral summer 2010/11 and one station during summer 2012/13. Glacier velocity remained elevated at all stations for ∼7 days following large rain events. During diurnal melt events, we find velocity variations in the early afternoon (12:00–16:00) at 600 m a.s.l. and in the late evening (20:00–01:00) at 400 m a.s.l. We hypothesize that the late-evening velocity variations occurred as an upstream region of high subglacial water pressures and accelerated ice motion propagated downstream. This mechanism may also explain the increased longitudinal compression and transverse extension across the lower glacier during speed-up events. Our results indicate that the subglacial drainage system likely decreases in efficiency upstream and that the water input variability can still cause short-term velocity variations despite the large year-round water inputs.
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Alexander, David, James Shulmeister, and Tim Davies. "High basal melting rates within high-precipitation temperate glaciers." Journal of Glaciology 57, no. 205 (2011): 789–95. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/002214311798043726.
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AbstractThe role of basal melting within high-precipitation temperate glaciers represents a significant gap in understanding glacier melting processes. We use a basal melt equation to calculate geothermal and frictional heat-induced basal melt and develop an equation to calculate the rainfall-induced basal melt for Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand, a high-precipitation, temperate glacier. Additionally, we calculate basal melt due to heat dissipation within water and ice. Data collated from published information on glacier dynamics and climate station readings show that total basal melt contributes on average ∼2.50 m a−1 over the lower to mid-ablation zone (300–1500 m a.s.l.), which is equivalent to >10% of the total ablation for the glacier. This indicates that basal melting is an important component of mass balance for high-precipitation, temperate glaciers.
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Oerlemans, J. "Holocene glacier fluctuations: is the current rate of retreat exceptional?" Annals of Glaciology 31 (2000): 39–44. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/172756400781820246.
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AbstractMost glaciers in the Northern Hemisphere reached their postglacial maximum in recent times, that is, after the medieval period. During the last 100 or 150 years a significant retreat has taken place, and there is little sign that this is coming to an end. The current worldwide shrinkage of glaciers is considered to be a strong indication of global warming. However, glacier retreat should be judged against the natural variability of glacier systems. Numerical glacier models can be used to quantify this variability. I have studied the natural variability of three glaciers for which long historic records of glacier length exist: Nigardsbreen, Norway; Rhonegletscher, Switzerland; and Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand. Integrations for a 10 000 year period, driven by random forcing of a realistic strength, show that the current retreat cannot be explained from natural variability in glacier length and must be due to external forcing.
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Kotlyakov, V. M., and Yu Ya Macheret. "Fifty years of geophysical researches of glaciers in Institute of Geography, the Russian Academy of Sciences, 1966–2016." Ice and Snow 56, no. 4 (December 21, 2016): 561–74. http://dx.doi.org/10.15356/2076-6734-2016-4-561-574.
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In 1967‑2015, Institute of Geography of the USSR/Russian Academy of Sciences together with other organizations carried out field expeditions in different areas of mountain and polar glaciations in many regions: the Polar Urals, Caucasus, Pamir, Zailiysky and Jungar Alatau, Tien‑Shan, Pamir‑Alai, the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Pyrenees, the Arctic – Spitsbergen, Novaya Zemlya, Franz Josef and Severnaya Zemlya, and Antarctica – on the ice flow B, and in the sub‑Antarctic – Islands King George, Galindez, and Livingston. The gravimetric and ground and aerial radar observations were made in these expeditions. About 300 glaciers of different morphological types and sizes with cold, subpolar and temperate thermal regime were studied. Basic results of these studies are the following: (1) the new data on the ice thicknesses, ice volumes, subglacial relief, internal structure, and thermal state of the glaciers were obtained; (2) the two‑layered (polythermal) glaciers consisting of the upper layer of cold ice and the lower layer of temperate water‑filled ice had been revealed in Svalbard for the first time; spatial distribution of cold, polythermal and temperate glaciers had been determined; (3) the evidences were obtained that measured changes in thickness of the upper cold ice layer in polythermal glaciers can be used to estimate the long‑period variations of regional climates and serve as regional paleothermometers; (4) methods for estimating the water content in temperate and polythermal glaciers from the RES data were developed; and its space‑time variations in temperate ices of the Svaldbald glaciers were estimated since even small water content inside of them can noticeably change their dynamic behavior; (5) methods for estimating the ice volume within glaciers in large regions of mountain and polar glaciations had been created; the ice storages were estimated in Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Dzhungrsky Alatau, the Great Caucasus, and Mt. Elbrus; (6) detailed data on the ice thicknesses and the subglacial relief had been obtained for 40 glaciers in framework of different national and international programs and projects; the data can be used to solve a wide range of practical and theoretical problems, including numerical modeling. These studies demonstrated the following: (1) the use of monopulse radars VIRL‑6 and VIRL‑7 of decameter range (the central frequency is 20 MHz) with digital recording of the radar and GPS data is quite efficient for ground‑based and airborne (from helicopters) radio‑echo sounding of mountain and polar glaciers with their ice thicknesses up to 500–600 m; (2) it was found that thicknesses of glaciers in the Caucasus and Tien Shan can reach 330–430 m, while in regions of mountain, ice‑sheet and transitional glaciation on the Spitsbergen Archipelago – 300, 560 and 600 m, respectively, on the ice caps of the Franz‑Josef Land and Severnaya Zemlya – 450 and 813 m, and on King George and Livingston Islands (Sub‑Antarctica) – 330 and 500 m; (3) large parts of ice caps and outlet glaciers in Svalbard, Franz Josef Land, Severnaya Zemlya which beds were located below the sea level were found. Precisely these parts can be undergone quick shortening due to climate warming, and, thus, cause formation of icebergs making threats for ships and gas‑oil marine platforms in the Barents and Kara seas; (4) data of the measurements made possible to calculate volumes of a number of investigated glaciers and ice caps and to estimate the ice storages in large areas of mountain and polar glaciations (the Jungar Alatau, Great Caucasus, Spitsbergen, Franz Josef Land); (5) decreasing of glacier volumes on the Franz Josef Land and some Spitsbergen glaciers for the last decades had been estimated. Analysis of the data obtained had shown that considerable part of polythermal glaciers in Spitsbergen belong to type of surging glaciers; they have the winter englacial runoff and form the near‑glacier icings. It allows considering such glaciers as dynamically unstable, predisposed to surges as well as possible sources of winter water supply and additional sources of paleoinformation about long‑period variations of regional climate.
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Gjermundsen, E. F., R. Mathieu, A. Kääb, T. Chinn, B. Fitzharris, and J. O. Hagen. "Assessment of multispectral glacier mapping methods and derivation of glacier area changes, 1978–2002, in the central Southern Alps, New Zealand, from ASTER satellite data, field survey and existing inventory data." Journal of Glaciology 57, no. 204 (2011): 667–83. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/002214311797409749.
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AbstractWe have measured the glacier area changes in the central Southern Alps, New Zealand, between 1978 and 2002 and have compiled the 2002 glacier outlines using an image scene from the Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER). Three automated classification methods were tested: (1) band ratio, (2) normalized-difference snow index and (3) supervised classification. The results were compared with the glacier outlines photo-interpreted from the ASTER data, and were further validated using GPS-aided field mapping of selected test glaciers. The ASTER 3/4 band ratio provided the best results. However, all the classification methods failed to extract extensive debris-covered parts of the glaciers. Therefore, the photo-interpreted 2002 outlines were used when comparing with the existing 1978 glacier inventory derived from aerial photographs. Our results show a ∼17% reduction of glacier area, mainly driven by the retreat of the large valley glaciers. Despite the large climatic gradient from west to east, glaciers on both sides of the Main Divide lost similar percentages of area, except Franz Josef and Fox Glaciers which advanced. Smaller glaciers were found to have changed very little in the study period.
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Oerlemans, J., and B. K. Reichert. "Relating glacier mass balance to meteorological data by using a seasonal sensitivity characteristic." Journal of Glaciology 46, no. 152 (2000): 1–6. http://dx.doi.org/10.3189/172756500781833269.
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AbstractWe propose to quantify the climate sensitivity of the mean specific balance B of a glacier by a seasonal sensitivity characteristic (SSC). The SSC gives the dependence of B on monthly anomalies in temperature and precipitation. It is calculated from a mass-balance model. We show and discuss examples for Franz-Josef Glacier (New Zealand), Nigardsbreen (Norway), Hintereisferner (Austria), Peyto Glacier (Canadian Rockies), Abramov Glacier (Kirghizstan) and White Glacier (Canadian Arctic). With regard to the climate sensitivity of B, the SSCs clearly show that summer temperature is the most important factor for glaciers in a dry climate. For glaciers in a wetter climate, spring and fall temperatures also make a significant contribution to the overall sensitivity. The SSC is a 2 × 12 matrix. Multiplying it with monthly perturbations of temperature and precipitation for a particular year yields an estimate of the balance for that year. We show that, with this technique, mass-balance series can be (re)constructed from long meteorological records or from output of atmospheric models.
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Zheng, Whyjay, Matthew E. Pritchard, Michael J. Willis, Paul Tepes, Noel Gourmelen, Toby J. Benham, and Julian A. Dowdeswell. "Accelerating glacier mass loss on Franz Josef Land, Russian Arctic." Remote Sensing of Environment 211 (June 2018): 357–75. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2018.04.004.
Full textDissertations / Theses on the topic "Franz Josef Glacier"
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Helm, Christopher Warren m. d. "Glacier change in Franz Josef Land, 1952--2004." Connect to online resource, 2007. http://gateway.proquest.com/openurl?url_ver=Z39.88-2004&rft_val_fmt=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:dissertation&res_dat=xri:pqdiss&rft_dat=xri:pqdiss:1456655.
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Hamré, Moa. "Förutsättningar för jökellopp vid Fox Glacier, Nya Zeeland." Thesis, Stockholms universitet, Institutionen för naturgeografi och kvartärgeologi (INK), 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:su:diva-71989.
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A great number of tourists visits each day the Fox Glacier in New Zealand and are subjected todangers such as jökulhlaups. This phenomena can occur suddenly and in a destructive way when abuilt up of water suddenly bursts and releases large amounts of water. This is well known to happen atthe near by Franz Josef Glacier which has similar settings to Fox Glacier, but sparse previous researchon the subject indicates different results of whether jökulhlaups are present or not by Fox Glacier. Thisthesis therefore aims to study the conditions for jökulhlaups at the glacier. This is done by remotesensing and field observations of the sandur in the Fox Glacier Valley, qualitative interviews andliterature studies with a comparison with Franz Josef Glacier. The results shows that there has beenjökulhlaups from an ice dammed lateral lake which is also the most likable way for jökulhlaups tohappen again, although there are other potential ways for it to happen due to the large amount of heavyrain that this region gets.
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Anderson, Brian Michael. "The response of Ka Roimata o Hine Hukatere Franz Josef Glacier to climate change." Thesis, University of Canterbury. Geography, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10092/4098.
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In the past century global climate warming has led to widespread glacier recession, which in turn has made
a significant contribution to eustatic sea level rise. In the coming century, warming is projected to continue
and small glacier melt will make a further contribution to sea level rise. In the monitoring of global glacier
change and prediction of the response of glacier to climate change, the few well-studied Southern
Hemisphere glaciers have an important role to play in elucidating global climate linkages, both in the
information that they have left on past climate and glacier change, and the information the provide on
future changes to the cryosphere.
Franz Josef Glacier, with the best record of terminus position in the Southern Hemisphere, has an important
place in assessing global climate and glacier change. The aim of this thesis is examine the response of
Franz Josef Glacier to climate change. This goal is achieved through the application of coupled mass
balance and ice-flow models, verified with an extensive set of field measurements.
A range of previous studies have attempted to understand the linkages between climate and the advance
and retreat of the glacier. Methods of examining the response of the glacier have progressed from simple
correlations of climate variables and terminus position, to coupled mass balance - ice-flow models. Despite
the large amount written about the glacier, there have been few direct measurements of ice velocity, almost
a complete lack of mass balance measurements and no measurements of ice thickness. Without these
measurements it is difficult to have confidence in the output of the models. A comparison of the output of
these models indicates a wide range of predicted mass balance and ice velocity, the two essential
components of glacier response to climate change.
The programme of field measurement indicates that Franz Josef Glacier has an extremely high mass
turnover. Ablation at the terminus is more than 20 m/a w.e. and accumulation in the névé up to 7 m/a w.e.
A degree-day mass balance model is able to simulate these measurements, but measured mass balance at
the same elevation varies significantly, indicating that the assumption that the only spatial variation of mass
balance is with elevation may not be valid here. Ice velocity reaches 2.5 m/day, which is high for a midlatitude
glacier. Temporal variations in velocity measurements indicate that basal sliding occurs year round
with little seasonal variation, and a greater sliding velocity on the glacier tongue than in the accumulation
area. An ice velocity model tuned to the ice velocity measurements confirms this pattern of sliding velocity.
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The coupled mass balance and ice-flow simulates the overall 20th century glacier retreat, but does not
simulate the terminus response well, a result of the mass balance model not producing accurate results for
the period 1894-1940. The model, when run for a short period of time into the future, indicates that glacier
response is independent of climate for a period of 5 years, and that Franz Josef Glacier will almost certainly
retreat a further 1 km in the next 5 years. Longer term predictions are dependent on climate change
scenarios, such that by 2100 the Franz Josef Glacier could be anywhere from a size similar to the present to
two small glaciers perched on the highest peaks. The mean scenario indicates that by 2100 the glacier will
have lost 20% of its volume and retreated 4 km to terminate near the present day Almer Glacier.
The possibly significant recession of the Franz Josef Glacier will have an impact on the local community
and economy with recreation and tourism on the glacier becoming much more difficult. While the results of
this study are particular to Franz Josef Glacier, they provide information on how other small glaciers
respond to climate change.
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Espiner, Stephen. "The phenomenon of risk and its management in natural resource recreation and tourism settings : a case study of Fox and Franz Josef Glaciers, Westland National Park, New Zealand." Lincoln University, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10182/638.
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The significance of risk is growing in many Western societies, a phenomenon linked to increasing individualism, personal choice, and outcome uncertainty in multiple spheres of life. Despite being healthier and more physically protected from harm than any previous society, a serious concern for safety and risk control is emerging as a defining characteristic of modern social life. Within the context of a risk-averse society, this thesis investigates the nature and relevance of risk in natural resource recreation and tourism settings. Millions of people every day visit national parks and other protected areas around the world in which natural hazards inhere. Many visitors fail to recognise these hazards, creating moral, legal, and ethical issues for natural resource managers. People travel to national parks anticipating a degree of adventure, to escape routines, and to witness the grandeur of nature. Ironically, the very qualities that attract people to natural areas may also put them at risk. Managers of natural resource tourism and recreation areas in New Zealand are confronted with a paradox born out of visitor demand for nature experiences, a legal obligation to facilitate free access, and a growing social emphasis on health and safety. In particular, this study assesses the risk perceptions of visitors to the Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, popular tourist attractions on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, and explores the risk perceptions and beliefs of resource management agency staff. The study also investigates the issue of risk communication at these two sites, and the degree to which existing hazard messages are successful at encouraging appropriate visitor behaviour. Pictorial hazard warning signs are introduced to the sites and their effectiveness evaluated. The findings show that many visitors (especially international visitors) have relatively poor awareness of natural hazards, and behave in ways which potentially compromise physical safety. It is argued that perceptions and behaviour are a consequence of diverse individual and situational factors including limited knowledge of the sites, beliefs about management, poor comprehension of hazard warning signs, and freedom from the normative constraints of everyday life. In contrast to visitors, managers at the glacier sites consider the risks to be significant, and, potentially, severe. It is argued that managers' perceptions of risk are influenced by several important social and site-specific factors, including their own experiences of hazards at the glaciers, perceived legal and moral obligations, the organisational culture, and impressions of high societal expectation concerning safety. The situation is further complicated by the freedom of access principle in national parks, and increasing tourist demand for nature-based experiences. These factors governed beliefs about the subject of risk. This study identifies several dimensions of risk in nature-based recreation and tourism settings. Visitors are at risk of personal accident or injury at certain tourism attractions. Awareness of hazards is limited, visitor behaviour compromises safety, and existing communication strategies are only partially effective. Risk is also apparent in the agency responsible for management of outdoor recreation areas. Site managers perceive a risk in their failure to prevent visitors from harm, whereas senior managers identify risk as primarily financial, legal, and political. Collectively, these factors demonstrate that the phenomenon of risk is increasingly important in the tourism and recreation context, and has the potential to influence significantly both management and experience of protected natural areas in New Zealand.
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Hayes, D. G. "An Investigation of visitor behaviour in recreation and tourism settings: a case study of natural hazard management at the Glaciers, Westland National Park, New Zealand." Lincoln University, 2008. http://hdl.handle.net/10182/942.
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Visitor non-compliance with protective recommendations is a major problem faced by recreational managers within natural environments. Although many studies have been conducted on noncompliant visitor behaviour within natural resource areas, few attempts have been made to gain an understanding of the behaviour, or to understand the decision making process. This dissertation seeks to address this gap by exploring salient motivations behind noncompliant behaviour within a natural recreation setting. The study was conducted over the summer of 2007-2008 within the popular tourist attractions of Fox and Franz Josef glaciers, Westland National park, New Zealand. The Department of Conservation has a legal and increasingly a moral obligation to provide a level of service and ensure a high standard of visitor safety within lands it administers. However, despite its efforts, management actions are criticised as being ‘over cautious’, and consequently a large number of visitors choose to ignore hazard warnings communicated by management and cross safety barriers, placing themselves and others at considerable risk. Previous studies at the glaciers have identified a number of causes for visitor non-compliance, including situational factors and the adequacy of current visitor management procedures. Through a quantitative measure, and qualitative interview responses, study findings show that visitor compliance with protective recommendations was strongly influenced by a number of situational factors including the proximity of track end points from the glacier terminus; the visibility of other visitors beyond the roped barriers; modest hazard perceptions of visitors; estimated visitor age; time of day and weather conditions. Based on visitor interview responses, motives of non-compliance were further explored by classifying behaviour according to Gramann and Vander Stoep’s (1987) typologies of normative violations. It is identified, using Ajzen’s (1985; 1991) theory of planned behaviour, that non-compliance with protective recommendations at the glaciers is motivated by, (1) a ‘belief’ that the situation or resource encouraged it; (2), through a release of ‘social pressure’, because everyone else was going over; and (3), a ‘perceived facilitation of the behaviour’, in that there were no obvious consequences to self or others. Implications for management to control noncompliant behaviour are discussed in detail.
Books on the topic "Franz Josef Glacier"
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Warburton, Ralph James. Glacier country: My years at Franz Josef. Dunedin, N.Z: Shoal Bay in association with Longacre Press, 2004.
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Corbett, R. A. Social impact issues among visitors to Franz Josef Glacier, Westland National Park. Wellington, N.Z: Department of Conservation, 2001.
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Grapes, R. H. X.R.F. analyses of quartzo-feldspathic schists and metacherts, Franz Josef-Fox Glacier area, Southern Alps of New Zealand. [Wellington]: Victoria University of Wellington, 1985.
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Benestad, Rasmus. Climate in the Barents Region. Oxford University Press, 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228620.013.655.
Full textAbstract:
The Barents Sea is a region of the Arctic Ocean named after one of its first known explorers (1594–1597), Willem Barentsz from the Netherlands, although there are accounts of earlier explorations: the Norwegian seafarer Ottar rounded the northern tip of Europe and explored the Barents and White Seas between 870 and 890 ce, a journey followed by a number of Norsemen; Pomors hunted seals and walruses in the region; and Novgorodian merchants engaged in the fur trade. These seafarers were probably the first to accumulate knowledge about the nature of sea ice in the Barents region; however, scientific expeditions and the exploration of the climate of the region had to wait until the invention and employment of scientific instruments such as the thermometer and barometer. Most of the early exploration involved mapping the land and the sea ice and making geographical observations. There were also many unsuccessful attempts to use the Northeast Passage to reach the Bering Strait. The first scientific expeditions involved F. P. Litke (1821±1824), P. K. Pakhtusov (1834±1835), A. K. Tsivol’ka (1837±1839), and Henrik Mohn (1876–1878), who recorded oceanographic, ice, and meteorological conditions.The scientific study of the Barents region and its climate has been spearheaded by a number of campaigns. There were four generations of the International Polar Year (IPY): 1882–1883, 1932–1933, 1957–1958, and 2007–2008. A British polar campaign was launched in July 1945 with Antarctic operations administered by the Colonial Office, renamed as the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey (FIDS); it included a scientific bureau by 1950. It was rebranded as the British Antarctic Survey (BAS) in 1962 (British Antarctic Survey History leaflet). While BAS had its initial emphasis on the Antarctic, it has also been involved in science projects in the Barents region. The most dedicated mission to the Arctic and the Barents region has been the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), which has commissioned a series of reports on the Arctic climate: the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) report, the Snow Water Ice and Permafrost in the Arctic (SWIPA) report, and the Adaptive Actions in a Changing Arctic (AACA) report.The climate of the Barents Sea is strongly influenced by the warm waters from the Norwegian current bringing heat from the subtropical North Atlantic. The region is 10°C–15°C warmer than the average temperature on the same latitude, and a large part of the Barents Sea is open water even in winter. It is roughly bounded by the Svalbard archipelago, northern Fennoscandia, the Kanin Peninsula, Kolguyev Island, Novaya Zemlya, and Franz Josef Land, and is a shallow ocean basin which constrains physical processes such as currents and convection. To the west, the Greenland Sea forms a buffer region with some of the strongest temperature gradients on earth between Iceland and Greenland. The combination of a strong temperature gradient and westerlies influences air pressure, wind patterns, and storm tracks. The strong temperature contrast between sea ice and open water in the northern part sets the stage for polar lows, as well as heat and moisture exchange between ocean and atmosphere. Glaciers on the Arctic islands generate icebergs, which may drift in the Barents Sea subject to wind and ocean currents.The land encircling the Barents Sea includes regions with permafrost and tundra. Precipitation comes mainly from synoptic storms and weather fronts; it falls as snow in the winter and rain in the summer. The land area is snow-covered in winter, and rivers in the region drain the rainwater and meltwater into the Barents Sea. Pronounced natural variations in the seasonal weather statistics can be linked to variations in the polar jet stream and Rossby waves, which result in a clustering of storm activity, blocking high-pressure systems. The Barents region is subject to rapid climate change due to a “polar amplification,” and observations from Svalbard suggest that the past warming trend ranks among the strongest recorded on earth. The regional change is reinforced by a number of feedback effects, such as receding sea-ice cover and influx of mild moist air from the south.