Le ruisellement au Spistberg. Le monde polaire face aux changements climatiques

Abstract

In the introductory chapter of ‘RUNOFF IN SVALBARD. The polar world facing climate changes’, the author summarizes the question dealt with in this book: do the Holocene and the contemporary global warming define a favourable para-glacial context for runoff? Or, in other words, is runoff a significant geomorphic process in the context of polar landscape where attention generally focuses on glacial and periglacial processes? The methodology is based on extensive field surveys in the Svalbard archipelago, and more particularly in the peninsula of Brøgger (Spitsberg), as well as on satellite imagery and geochemical and isotopic analyses. The book consists of nine chapters grouped into three parts. Part one investigates the water inputs and outputs of the hydrological system to estimate a water budget for runoff dynamics and to establish the runoff calendar. In part two a detailed analysis of the main landscape units (the hillslopes, the moraines and the sandurs) is carried out to define the spatial extension of runoff, and to draw up a classification of associated landforms. In the third part, the temporal and spatial aspects are combined in an original tentative evaluation of the geomorphic impact of runoff in this context. The book is well illustrated and brings valuable information on overland flow processes in maritime polar areas