Abstract
Comparison of cartographic data, field observations and satellite imagery for the period since the turn of the century have made it possible to make numerical evaluations of changes in the glaciers on the archipelagoes of the Eurasian Arctic, i.e., Svalbard, Novaya Zemlya, Severnaya Zemlya and Franz Josef Land. This analysis reveals that the rate of glacier fluctuations becomes progressively slower as one moves away from the main source of precipitation, namely, the North Atlantic. In some cases the analyses confirm fairly closely the results of mass balance calculations. It was demonstrated that observations on the Svalbard glaciers are particularly crucial in that they perform the role of natural indicators of glacier fluctuations in the Eurasian Arctic.
Keywords