Local climate on and around a glacier - a case study of Storglaciären

It is sometimes necessary to transform the climate data from a station to another station on a glacier. However, it is generally not so easy to do so since a glacier has its own specific microclimate. At Storglaciären in the summer 2003, air temperature and wind speed were measured at two weather stations set up near the center of the glacier and at the ridge of the bordering valley wall 300 m above the glacier surface. Additional continuous measurements are made at a weather station at Tarfala Research Station, which is located 1 km down glacier (1135 m a.s.l.). The result show a slight temperature difference between ridge and glacier stations because of the cooling effect by the glacier. Thus, temperature lapse rate is different. Wind speed on the ridge was higher than the other two in most cases, and the difference was largest during periods of high wind speed. The correlation between wind speed at the ridge and the other sites is weak.