Glacier response to a changing climate in southern Iceland. Led by Dr. David Graham, Department of Geography, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU.

Three inter-related themes will provide new baseline datasets for the rigorous evaluation of the timing and mechanisms of glacial response to climatic forcing at a range of contemporary ice masses. Global warming is predicted to have a pronounced effect on terrestrial ice masses but predictions of how ice masses will respond to future warming depend on rigorous understanding of the relationship between climatic change and recent glacier activity. The mass balance of glaciers in southern Iceland is closely coupled to North Atlantic Ocean circulation and these glaciers are therefore highly sensitive barometers of regional climatic change. Consequently, proglacial landforms in southern Iceland are archives of North Atlantic climate change and provide an important resource for the evaluation of both the timing and mechanisms of ice mass response to recent climatic forcing. Proglacial areas in southern Iceland have been subject to regular aerial survey since the 1940s providing important insights into both the timing and mechanisms of glacial retreat. However, since the Icelandic mapping agency ceased routine aerial photography, this fundamental avenue of research has been curtailed.