Ward van Pelt
Associate professor

Fieldwork

Pictures of our annual field campaigns to Svalbard can be found here.

Meetings

  • Registration is open for the IASC Network on Arctic Glaciology meeting! [Obergurgl, Austria; 22-24 January 2024; link]

Thesis

An electronic copy of my PhD-thesis, defended in 2014, can be found here!

Welcome

   Welcome to my website!
I currently work as a senior lecturer in physical geography at Uppsala University in Sweden. In my research I assess the impact of changing climate conditions in the Arctic on glaciers and seasonal snow packs.








News

18-Jan-2024 :: Publication in Frontiers in Earth Science
"An analysis of winter rain-on-snow climatology in Svalbard" by Vickers et al. is now accepted for publication in Frontiers in Earth Science: Cryospheric Sciences. Link

04-Jan-2024 :: Publication of SIOS report
The report "An agenda for the future of snow research in Svalbard - a multidomain approach is now published by SIOS. Link

21-Sep-2023 :: IASC NAG meeting, Obergurgl, Austria (22-24 Jan 2024)
Registration and abstract submission for the IASC Network on Arctic Glaciology (NAG) meeting and Workshop on the Dynamics and Mass Budget of Arctic Glaciers in Obergurgl is now open! Deadline: 24 November. Link

18-Sep-2023 :: Publication in The Cryosphere
"Reconciling ice dynamics and bed topography with a versatile and fast ice thickness inversion by Frank et al. is now published in The Cryosphere. Link

22-Apr-2023 :: Fieldwork in Svalbard
Despite unusually warm and wet conditions during our fieldwork (10-21 April), we had a successful campaign. Looking forward to work the collected data! Some photos will follow soon! Link

16-Mar-2023 :: Docentship lecture
Today I gave my docentship lecture with the title "Beneath the glacier surface" in the room Norrland I at Geocentrum. More details here: Link

29-Jan-2023 :: IASC NAG meeting
It was a pleasure to organize the IASC NAG meeting & workshop on the dynamics and mass budget of Arctic glaciers, held in Obergurgl in Austria from 26-28 January. Thank you all for participating! The abstract book is now online: Link

12-Jan-2023 :: SESS report chapter
The chapter on "Ground penetrating radar measurement of snow in Svalbard - past, present, future" by Ignatiuk et al. is now published in the SESS report 2022. Link

20-Dec-2022 :: Publication in The Cryosphere
"Long-term firn and mass balance modelling for Abramov Glacier in the data-scarce Pamir Alay" by Kronenberg et al. is now published in The Cryosphere. Link

09-Oct-2022 :: Publication in Journal of Glaciology
"Spatial variability in winter mass balance on Storglaciären modelled with a terrain based approach" by Terleth et al. is now accepted for publication in Journal of Glaciology. Link

22-Sep-2022 :: IASC NAG meeting, Obergurgl, Austria (26-28 Jan 2023)
Registration and abstract submission for the IASC Network on Arctic Glaciology (NAG) meeting and Workshop on the Dynamics and Mass Budget of Arctic Glaciers in Obergurgl is now open! Deadline: 25 November. Link

07-Sep-2022 :: IGS Nordic Branch meeting, Uppsala, Sweden (26-28 Oct 2022)
Registration for the IGS Nordic Branch meeting in Uppsala is now open! Deadline: 10 October. Link

09-Feb-2022 :: Publication in Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing
"Direct photogrammetry with multispectral imagery for UAV-based snow depth estimation" by Maier et al. is now published in ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. Link

19-Jan-2022 :: Publication in Nature
"Historical glacier change on Svalbard predicts doubling of mass loss by 2100" by Geyman et al. is now published in Nature. Link

06-Jan-2022 :: Publication in Geophysical Journal International
"Seasonal glacier and snow loading in Svalbard recovered from geodetic observations" by Kierulf et al. is now published in Geophysical Journal International. Link

28-Oct-2021 :: Publication in Marine Ecology Progress Series
"Feeding at the front line: Interannual variation in the use of glacier fronts by foraging black-legged kittiwakes" by Bertrand et al. is now published in Marine Ecology Progress Series. Link

22-Sep-2021 :: Publication in Frontiers in Earth Science
The mini-review paper "Complementary approaches towards a universal model of glacier surges" by Terleth et al. is now published in Frontiers in Earth Science. Link

09-Jul-2021 :: Publication in The Cryosphere
"Firn changes at Colle Gnifetti revealed with a high-resolution process-based physical model approach" by Mattea et al. is now published in The Cryosphere. Link

20-May-2021 :: Publication in Remote Sensing
"A compilation of snow cover datasets for Svalbard: a multi-sensor, multi-model study" by Vickers et al. is now published in Remote Sensing. Link

08-May-2021 :: Publication in Journal of Glaciology
"Water content of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements" by Marchenko et al. is now published (first-view) in Journal of Glaciology. Link

01-Mar-2021 :: Publication in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
"Elemental and water-insoluble organic carbon in Svalbard snow: A synthesis of observations during 2007–2018" by Zdanowicz et al. is now published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics. Link

17-Feb-2021 :: Publication in Journal of Glaciology
"Accelerating future mass loss of Svalbard glaciers from a multi-model ensemble" by Van Pelt et al. is now published (first-view) in Journal of Glaciology. Link

26-Jan-2021 :: IASC Network on Arctic Glaciology meeting
We had a successful online IASC Network on Arctic Glaciology meeting, with three keynote presentations followed by an open forum. Thanks to all those that contributed and participated! Link

21-Jan-2021 :: Publication in Frontiers in Earth Science
"Results from the Ice Thickness Models Intercomparison eXperiment phase 2 (ITMIX2)" by Farinotti et al. is now published in Frontiers in Earth Science. Link

11-Jan-2021 :: Two chapters in SESS report 2020
The chapters "Satellite and modelling based snow season time series for Svalbard: Inter-comparisons and assessment of accuracy" [link] by Malnes et al. and "Svalbard snow and sea-ice cover: comparing satellite data, on-site measurements, and modelling results" [link] by Killie et al. are now published in the SESS report 2020. The full report can be accessed here.

17-Nov-2020 :: Invited presentation at Fribourg University
On 17 November, I gave an online colloquium at Fribourg University about Svalbard glacier mass change in a past, present and future climate. Link

11-Nov-2020 :: IGS Nordic Branch Meeting
At the IGS Nordic Branch Meeting (11-13 November), I presented a poster about Accelerated mass loss of Svalbard glaciers from a multimodel ensemble. Link

06-Nov-2020 :: Publication in The Cryosphere
"The firn meltwater Retention Model Intercomparison Project (RetMIP): Evaluation of nine firn models at four weather station sites on the Greenland ice sheet" by Vandecrux et al. is now published in The Cryosphere. Link

29-Oct-2020 :: Research grant Swedish Research Council
The Swedish Research Council has approved my application for a starting grant to study "Global glacier thickness and volume estimation"! We will soon look for a PhD student to work on this project.

14-Sep-2020 :: Publication in Nature Communications
"Low elevation of Svalbard glaciers drives high mass loss variability" by Noël et al. is now published in Nature Communications. Link

06-Jun-2020 :: SIOS online conference
At the SIOS online conference on remote sensing in Svalbard (4-5 June), I gave a talk about Modelling glacier climatic mass balance and snow conditions across Svalbard. Link

27-May-2020 :: Publication in Frontiers in Earth Science
The review paper "Reconciling Svalbard mass balance" by Schuler et al. is now published in Frontiers in Earth Science. Link

31-Jan-2020 :: IASC-NAG meeting
At the IASC-NAG workshop on the Dynamics and mass budget of Arctic glaciers (28-30 January), I gave a talk about Projected mass balance and snow conditions in Svalbard. Link

23-Jan-2020 :: Chapter in SESS report 2019
The review chapter "New data, new techniques and new challenges for updating the state of Svalbard glaciers (SvalGlac)" by Schuler et al. is now published in the SESS report 2019. Link

17-Jan-2020 :: Snow4all workshop
At a recent workshop in Kiruna (14-16 January), Sweden, we discussed progess in the VINNOVA project Snow4all (A snow quality assessment tool based on new techniques and Sami knowledge, Link).

09-Nov-2019 :: Svalbard Science Conference
At the Svalbard Science Conference - glaciology flagship meeting (6-8 November) in Oslo, Norway, I gave a talk about Future mass balance, snow conditions and runoff in Svalbard. Link

26-Oct-2019 :: Svalbard Snow Network meeting
At the Svalbard Snow Network meeting (22-25 October) in Warszawa, Poland, I gave a talk about Snow modelling in Svalbard.

03-Sep-2019 :: Publication in The Cryosphere
"A long-term dataset of climatic mass balance, snow conditions, and runoff in Svalbard (1957–2018)" by Van Pelt et al. is now published in The Cryosphere. Read more about this work under Research or access the article directly here.

30-Aug-2019: Publication in Polar Research
"Comparison of snow accumulation events on two High-Arctic glaciers to model-derived and observed precipitation" by Pramanik et al. is now published in Polar Research. Link

09-Jul-2019 :: Publication in The Cryosphere
"Thermal conductivity of firn at Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard, derived from subsurface temperature measurements" by Marchenko et al. is now published in The Cryosphere. Link

07-May-2019 :: Publication in Annals of Glaciology
"Characterization of seasonal glacial seismicity from a single-station on-ice record at Holtedahlfonna, Svalbard." by Köhler et al. is now published in Annals of Glaciology. Link

15-Apr-2019 :: Fieldwork in Svalbard
We just finished another successful field campaign to Lomonosovfonna, Svalbard. Some photos of the fieldwork can be found here!