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The retreat of glaciers in response to climate warming leads to substantial changes not only in their mass balance, size and runoff but it also impacts their proglacial zones. A common characteristic of these proglacial changes is the development of glacial lake systems, which serve as meltwater and sediment reservoirs and become new elements in Arctic paraglacial landscapes. This paper investigates the evolution of a unique glacial lake system that has developed in the proglacial zone of the glacier system Cramerbraene in Svalbard since the termination of the Little Ice Age.Our results indicate that the first glacial lakes appeared in the foreland of Crammerbreane in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Since then, the lake system has steadily increased in area concurrently with progressive retreat of Crammerbreane. In 2014, the first documented dam breaching of the terminal moraine occurred, leading to a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) event, which resulted in a loss of the lake area by 0.08 km2. After this event, the lake area began to steadily increase again reaching its largest surface area in its development history in 2019: 0.44 km2. In September 2019, a second and larger GLOF event occurred, reducing the lake area by 0.23 km2 (~50%) within nine days. Recent satellite and aerial imagery indicates that the described lake system has been steadily draining since the 2019 GLOF event. More importantly, as a result of these two documented catastrophic glacial runoffs, the geomorphology in the foreland of Crammerbreane has been reworked, leading to changes in the course of the river channel that transports glacial water into Recherchefjorden. These findings suggest that glacial lake systems in Svalbard play an increasingly important role in paraglacial Arctic landscape transformation, not only as glacial water and sediment storage reservoirs but also as active agents of downstream geomorphological changes through episodic catastrophic GLOF events. This work was supported by Svalbard Integrated Arctic Earth Observing System [Airborne remote sensing campaign 2021] and the Research Council of Norway [333199].

The warming of the Arctic climate is well documented, but the mechanisms of Arctic amplification are still not fully understood. Thus, monitoring of glaciological and meteorological variables and the environmental response to accelerated climate warming must be continued and developed in Svalbard. Long-term meteorological observations carried out in situ on glaciers in conjunction with glaciological monitoring are rare in the Arctic and significantly expand our knowledge about processes in the polar environment. This study presents the unique glaciological and meteorological data collected in 2009–2020 in southern Spitsbergen (Werenskioldbreen). The meteorological data are comprised of air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, shortwave and longwave upwelling and downwelling radiation on 10 minutes, hourly and daily timescale (2009–2020). The snow dataset includes 49 sampling points from 2009–2019 with the snow depth, snow bulk density and SWE data. The glaciological data consist of point and surface annual winter, summer and net balance for 2009–2020. The paper also includes modelling of the daily glacier surface ablation (2009–2020) based on the presented data. The high-quality and long-term datasets are expected to serve as accurate forcing data in hydrological and glaciological models and validation of remote sensing products. The datasets are available from the and Polish Polar Database (https://ppdb.us.edu.pl/) and Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5791748, Ignatiuk, 2021a; https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5792168, Ignatiuk, 2021b).

Rapid changes of glacial lakes are among the most visible indicators of global warming in glacierized areas around the world. The general trend is that the area and number of glacial lakes increase significantly in high mountain areas and polar latitudes. However, there is a lack of knowledge about the current state of glacial lakes in the High Arctic. This study aims to address this issue by providing the first glacial lake inventory from Svalbard, with focus on the genesis and evolution of glacial lakes since the end of the Little Ice Age. We use aerial photographs and topographic data from 1936 to 2012 and satellite imagery from 2013 to 2020. The inventory includes the development of 566 glacial lakes (total area of 145.91 km2) that were in direct contact with glaciers in 2008–2012. From the 1990s to the end of the 2000s, the total glacial lake area increased by nearly a factor of six. A decrease in the number of lakes between 2012 and 2020 is related to two main processes: the drainage of 197 lakes and the merger of smaller reservoirs into larger ones. The changes of glacial lakes show how climate change in the High Arctic affect proglacial geomorphology by enhanced formation of glacial lakes, leading to higher risks associated with glacier lake outburst floods in Svalbard.

Most glaciers worldwide are undergoing climate-forced recession, but the impact of glacier changes on biogeochemical cycles is unclear. This study examines the influence of proglacial sediment weathering on meltwater chemistry at the early stages of glacier recession in the High Arctic of Svalbard. Scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) in combination with a wide range of geochemical analyses were used in this study. The SEM-EDS analyses of sediments collected in front of Werenskioldbreen show general degradation of pyrite and carbonate grains with age. The outer parts of pyrite grains have a gradual decrease in sulphur and gradual increase in iron oxides due to pyrite oxidation. This process was less advanced in the proglacial zone younger than 100 years compared to older sites such as the terminal moraine from the Little Ice Age. In both the proglacial zone and the terminal moraine, physical weathering of mineral grains, including formation of microcracks and microfractures, clearly enhanced pyrite oxidation. A consequence of proglacial sediment weathering is that the river chemistry is strongly affected by carbonate dissolution driven by sulphuric acid from sulphide oxidation. Also, reactive iron oxides, a product of sulphide oxidation, are mobilized in the proglacial zone. The results of this study show that proglacial weathering in the High Arctic of Svalbard is strongly coupled to river geochemistry, especially during the early stages of proglacial exposure after glacier recession.

The aluminium (Al) cycle in glacierised basins has not received a great deal of attention in studies of biogeochemical cycles. As Al may be toxic for biota, it is important to investigate the processes leading to its release into the environment. It has not yet been ascertained whether filterable Al (passing through a pore size of 0.45 μm) is incorporated into biogeochemical cycles in glacierised basins. Our study aims to determine the relationship between the processes bringing filterable Al and glacier‐derived filterable nutrients (particularly Fe and Si) into glacierised basins. We investigated the Werenskioldbreen basin (44.1 km², 60% glacierised) situated in SW Spitsbergen, Svalbard. In 2011, we collected meltwater from a subglacial portal at the glacier front and at a downstream hydrometric station throughout the ablation season. The Al concentration, unchanged between the subglacial system and proglacial zone, reveals that aluminosilicate weathering is a dominant source of filterable Al under subglacial conditions. By examining the Al:Fe ratio compared with pH and the sulphate mass fraction index, we found that the proton source for subglacial aluminosilicate weathering is mainly associated with sulphide oxidation and, to a lesser degree, with hydrolysis and carbonation. In subglacial outflows and in the glacial river, Al and Fe are primarily in the forms of Al(OH)₄‐ and Fe(OH)₃. The annual filterable Al yield (2.7 mmol m‐²) was of a magnitude similar to that of nutrients such as filterable Fe (3.0 mmol m‐²) and lower than that of dissolved Si (18.5 mmol m‐²). Our results show that filterable Al concentrations in meltwater are significantly correlated to filterable and dissolved glacier‐derived nutrients (Fe and Si, respectively) concentrations in glaciers worldwide. We conclude that a potential bioavailable Al pool derived from glacierised basins may be incorporated in biogeochemical cycles, as it is strongly related to the concentrations and yields of glacier‐derived nutrients.

Contamination of water and sediments with arsenic and heavy metals is a global issue affecting human health. Regions covered with Quaternary deposits have received little attention from the point of view of the flux of arsenic and heavy metals from sediments to surface water. This study aims to determine the flux of arsenic and other heavy metals from Quaternary sediments to surface waters in an area affected by the former Złoty Stok gold and arsenic mine. Contamination in surface waters and sediments was caused by arsenic, whereas concentrations of metals were usually within water quality standards. Arsenic contamination of surface water increased in the lower part of the basin covered by Quaternary sediments, and exceeded water quality standards by 2 orders of magnitude. Arsenic mass flux exceeded 8 kg/day near the confluence of the Trująca River with the Nysa Kłodzka, a main tributary of the Oder River. An increase in arsenic concentration in the lower part of the basin is related to mine tailings and preferential flow of groundwater through Quaternary sediments. In future, water resources scarcity may lead to an increase in arsenic contamination in surface and groundwater.

Climate change is impacting surficial geomorphic processes, especially in sensitive areas such as the sub-Arctic. One of the most common examples involves landslides, which often develop in glacio-isostatically raised marine clays in northeastern Canada. One of these sites, an expansive area of complex landslide terrain located at the mouth of the Great Whale River in Nunavik, has already been studied due to its age and morphology. We present new data, based on the multidisciplinary research including geomorphic, dendrochronological, and hydroclimatological analyses, allowing us to determine how contemporary climate change has affected landslide reactivation during the last 80 years. Our research included collecting 60 cores from Picea glauca trees, growing on the marginal zone of a landslide deposit, as well as from a reference site. The tilted trees formed eccentric growth-ring patterns, which provided us with reliable dates on the landslide events. In addition to these dendrochronological data, we studied these landslides using repeated aerial photography, which showed changes in river channel constrictions in the period 1969–2019. Based on the eccentricity index of the tree ring data, we recognized disturbance events due to landslides. We compared these data with the hydroclimatological conditions and found clearly visible correlations between heavy rainfall and discharge (>95th percentile) of the Great Whale River. The increased landslide activity over the past several years can be linked to an increase in extreme summertime rainfall events. Increased landslide activity poses a real threat, through its input of large amounts of fine-grained sediment to the river, causing it to narrow.

A unique data set of suspended sediment transport from the Breelva, which drains the Werenskioldbreen (Southwestern Spitsbergen), is reported for the period 2007&ndash, 2012. This basin is thoroughly described hydrologically, glaciologically, and chemically. However, until now there was a lack of full recognition of mechanical denudation. This study extends the information on quantitative suspended sediment load (SSL), amounting to 37.30&ndash, 130.94 kt per year, and also underlines the importance of its modification by high discharge events, triggered by intense snowmelt or heavy rainfall. The large floods during the hydrologically active season transported even 83% of the total SSL. The variability of the SSL is controlled by glacial storage and release mechanisms. Particularly interesting is the second half of the hydrologically active season when intense rainfall events plays a key role in shaping the sediment supply pattern. The main source of fine mineral matter is the basal moraine, drained by subglacial outflows. Their higher mobilization occurs when the hydrostatic pressure increases, often as a result of rainwater supply to the glacier system. An increasing precipitation trend for Hornsund fjord region determines a positive trend predicted for sediment flux.

The paper presents changes in concentration levels of dioxin-like compounds that can be observed over the course of four study seasons in water samples collected from the Arctic watershed of Svalbard. The conducted analysis involved anthropogenic and natural factors that may affect the concentration of PAHs in the study samples of water. An attempt is made to indicate the emission source of the compounds being deposited and to identify the extent to which the substances under analysis actually affect the Arctic ecosystems. Moreover, the work employs the following: diagnostic ratios PAHs, air masses backward trajectory analysis, Lidar observations and land relief analysis in order to provide a multi-level interpretation of the obtained data. Natural environment constitutes a complex system of subtle correlations that need to be perceived as a dynamic medium, in which multi-faceted processes take place.

Arctic regions experience metal pollution, despite their remote location, and the distribution and migration of those metals determine their potential impact on the local environment. Here, a High-Arctic catchment (Revelva, Svalbard) located remotely from human-induced pollution sources is studied with respect to the distribution and migration of chosen trace elements (Ag, Al, As, B, Ba, Bi, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Cs, Mo, Ni, Pb, Sb, Se, Sr, Tl, U, V and Zn) in surface waters. The metal concentrations fluctuated in 2010–2012 between 0.01 and 354 μg L−1, the highest mean-weighted concentration noted for Sr (42.5 μg L−1). The concentrations in the river water were likely influenced by both natural and human-activity-related processes. These factors can produce substances of the same chemical composition (e.g. carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide and metals may be emitted both by a volcanic eruption and by industrial sources). Therefore, chemometric techniques were used in the current paper to distinguish the multiple sources of pollution in the Revelva catchment. The authors were seeking to determine whether there is indeed evidence for contamination, sufficient to cause environmental damage in polar region. As a result, it was shown that the long-range transport could play an important role in shaping the metal concentration profile of this Arctic tundra environment, capturing both the influence of volcanic eruptions within the region and the human activity in a range of distances from the study site.

Summary This study aims to determine the rate of chemical denudation and the relationships between dominant geochemical reactions operating in the proglacial and subglacial environments of the polythermal glacier Werenskioldbreen (SW Svalbard) during an entire ablation season. Water sampling for major ion chemistry was performed at a proglacial hydrometric station and from subglacial outflows from May to September 2011. These data were combined with measurements of discharge and supraglacial ablation rates. The slopes and intercepts in best-fit regressions of [*Ca2+ + *Mg2+ vs. *SO42−] and [HCO3− vs. *SO42−] in meltwater from ice-marginal subglacial channels were close to the stoichiometric parameters of sulfide oxidation and simple hydrolysis coupled to carbonate dissolution (*concentrations corrected for input of sea-salt). This shows that these relationships predominates the meltwater chemistry. Our findings also show that sulfide oxidation is a better indicator of the configuration of subglacial drainage systems than, for instance, Na+ and K+. In the proglacial area and in sub-artesian outflows, the ion associations represent sulfide oxidation but other processes such as ion exchange and dissolution of Ca and Mg efflorescent salts may also contribute to the solute variations. These processes may cause enhanced fluxes of Ca2+ and HCO3− from glacierized basins during the early ablation and peak flow seasons as the proglacial salts re-dissolve. The overall chemical denudation rate in the basin for 2011 (ranging from 1601 to 1762 meq m−2 yr−1 (121.9 to 132.2 t km−2 yr−1)) was very high when compared to other Svalbard valley glaciers suggesting that the high rate of chemical denudation was mostly caused by the high rates of discharge and ablation. Chemical weathering intensities (876 and 964 meq m−3 yr−1) exceeded previously reported intensities in Svalbard.