Timelapse photographs from various locations in Hornsund fjord

A set of timelapse photographs from various locations around the Polish Polar Station Hornsund. The images capture coastal areas in Isbjornhamna and Hansbukta as well as Revdalen and Revvatnet lakes and Fuglebekken catchment. A complete list of the cameras together with their locations and time spans is included in the main data directory. The folders are named after the location and direction of the cameras. Subfolders are named by the year (YYYY) and the month (YYYYMM) of photographs. If the position of the camera has been changed, it is indicated as "p2" in the name of the subfolder. Similarly, if the same position has two cameras, the subfolders of the second camera are indicated with "c2". The filename is formed from the date and time of photograph (YYYYMMDD_HHMM_......). Some of the oldest subfolders include a text file with list of all the filenames. From these datasets photographs with clouds, fogs, dark, moisten, overexposed, etc. were deleted, but the more recent datasets include all photographs. Text file in the folder with the photo-station name includes information about camera geographical position.

The contents of the photos in each subfolder are briefly described below. All photos are suitable for studying, for example, changes in ice and snow cover in the respective areas. In addition, changes in the position of glacier front or glacier calving can be analysed when the glacier front is visible.

  • Arie to Hansbukta - Baranowski peninsula, the opening of Hansbukta and Fannytoppen mountain from 2016 to 2019. The Hansbreen glacier is not visible in this dataset.
  • Arie to Isbjornhamna - The whole Isbjornhamna between Baranowski and Wilczek peninsulas including Fuglebekken catchment and the Polish Polar Station in Hornsund are covered in the photos by a camera in high altitude. In addition, Gashamna and Gasbreen on the southern coast of Hornsund fjord are visible in the photos.
  • Banachowka to Isbjornhamna – The coastline of Isbjornhamna to the east of the Polish Polar Station are photographed by a camera in a low elevation. Fuglebekken catchment together with the lower slope of Fugle mountain are visible in the background.
  • Baranowski to Hansbukta – The dataset includes two cameras at the same position. The first one covers western coast of Hansbukta and Hansbreen glacier (excluding the very eastern part of the glacier front). The second camera covers the astern part of Hansbukta and Hansbreen glacier together with Fannytoppen.
  • Fannytoppen to Hansbukta – Western part of Hansbukta and Hansbreen glacier together with Fugle mountain from 2016 to 2019. Part of the eastern coastline close to the opening to Hansbukta is also visible.
  • Fugle 107 to Hansbukta – The dataset includes two cameras. The first one offers a high altitude view to Hansbreen glacier front. The second camera is directed to Hansbukta and Fannytoppen, covering both the western and eastern coastlines as well as the opening to Hansbukta.
  • Moraine to IsbjornhamnaE – Eastern part of Isbjornhamna coastline and inner bay with Baranowski peninsula and Fannytoppen in the background in 2015 and 2018-2019.
  • Moraine to IsbjornhamnaW – The camera operated for two years with different orientation. The first subfolder includes photos covering the western part of Isbjornhamna including the buildings of Polish Polar Station in Hornsund and Wilczek peninsula as well as open ocean in the background during 2015. The second subfolder includes photos where the camera is oriented to cover the coastline of Isbjornhamna in 2016.
  • Revdalen – Revdalen area together with Revvatnet lake.
  • Wilczek to Isbjornhamna – Isbjornhamna coastline and inner bay with parts of lower slope of Fugle, Baranowski peninsula and Fannytoppen in the background during spring 2015.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
GCMD keywords
  • name: EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > COASTAL PROCESSES > FJORDS
  • name: EARTH SCIENCE > CRYOSPHERE > SEA ICE
  • name: EARTH SCIENCE > CRYOSPHERE > SNOW/ICE
  • name: EARTH SCIENCE > LAND SURFACE > GEOMORPHIC LANDFORMS/PROCESSES > COASTAL LANDFORMS
  • name: EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > COASTAL PROCESSES
  • name: EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > OCEAN WAVES
  • name: EARTH SCIENCE > OCEANS > SEA ICE
  • name: EARTH SCIENCE > CRYOSPHERE > SNOW/ICE > SNOW COVER
Dataset Center https://dataportal.igf.edu.pl
Maintainer Data Steward
Dataset PI
  • PI name: Mateusz Moskalik PI email: mmoskfoo(at)igf.edu.pl PI ORCID: 0000-0002-0615-9528 PI Institution: Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences PI Department: Polar and Marine Research
  • PI name: Oskar Głowacki PI email: oglowackifoo(at)igf.edu.pl PI Institution: Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences PI Department: Polar and Marine Research
  • PI name: Bartłomiej Luks PI email: luksfoo(at)igf.edu.pl PI Institution: Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences PI Department: Polar and Marine Research
Dataset Owner
  • Owner name: Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences Owner PIC (Participant Identification Code): 996625337 Owner address: Ksiecia Janusza 64, 01-452 Warszawa, Poland
Licence Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)
Dataset status In Work
Activity type
  • in-situ measurements
  • photographs
  • long-term monitoring
Access constraint Open
Embargo
Dataset modified 2025-02-18
Metadata created 2022-02-18
Quality statement Quality controlled by manual inspection
Quality Editor
  • Editor name: Bartłomiej Luks Editor email: luksfoo(at)igf.edu.pl Editor Institution: Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences
Spatial distribution { "coordinates": [ [ [ 15.517, 77.011 ], [ 15.683, 77.019 ], [ 15.671, 76.994 ], [ 15.517, 77.011 ] ] ], "type": "Polygon" }
Region Svalbard, Spitsbergen, Hornsund
Start time 2016-02-23 01:00 CET
End time 2024-12-20 01:00 CET
Dataset citation Moskalik M., Głowacki O., Luks B. Timelapse photographs from Hornsund region
Dataset DOI https://doi.org/
External resource
Publication
  • Publication title: Moskalik M., Ćwiąkała J., Szczuciński W., Dominiczak A., Głowacki O., Wojtysiak K., Zagórski P. 2018. Spatiotemporal changes in the concentration and composition of suspended particulate matter in front of Hansbreen, a tidewater glacier in Svalbard. Oceanologia 60(4), 446-463 Publication DOI: 10.1016/j.oceano.2018.03.001
  • Publication title: Glowacki O., Deane G.B. 2020. Quantifying iceberg calving fluxes with underwater noise. The Cryosphere, 14, 1025–1042. Publication DOI: 10.5194/tc-14-1025-2020
Project
  • Project title: Long-term OceaNoGraphic monitoring in HORnsuNd region (LONGHORN) Project ID: RiS-ID 11029 Project description: https://dataportal.igf.edu.pl/group/about/longhorn Project homepage: https://www.researchinsvalbard.no/project/20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000007620/project-info Project financing institution: Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences
  • Project title: Long-term limnological monitoring in Revdalen (LongRevView) Project ID: RiS-ID 11746 Project description: https://dataportal.igf.edu.pl/group/about/long-term-limnological-monitoring-in-revdalen-longrevview Project homepage: https://www.researchinsvalbard.no/project/20000000-0000-0000-0000-000000009862/project-info Project financing institution: Institute of Geophysics, Polish Academy of Sciences
  • Project title: The impact of the sea ice conditions in the nearshore zone and shore ice on the wave propagation and coastal morphodynamics in polar regions on the example of south-western Spitsbergen - the analysis of processes, modeling, and prediction. (2014.05.13-2018.12.12) Project ID: UMO-2013/09/B/ST10/04141 Project description: The global Warming results in the decline of shore ice and pack ice growth, and along with the increasing number of storms in autumn and winter it poses a threat to the coasts of Arctic. Considering the rising interest in polar regions’ natural resources it is expected, that the coastal areas will be used as locations for land bases. Incorporation of sea ice and shore ice effects in the models of coastal erosion will be crucial for their security. In The State of Arctic Coasts report (2010) it is concluded, that the polar coasts are the very dynamic environment that is particularly sensitive to the climate change, mostly through constant adaptation to the changing conditions, which are: retreat of the glaciers, thawing permafrost, rise in sea temperature, prolonged periods with no sea ice and increasing number of storms. The coasts of Arctic are over 30% of the global shoreline’s length. Still, their dynamics is not known enough to fully understand the processes that control them. The scientific studies describing the above are insufficient in quantity and quality. It is estimated that only 1% of the Arctic coasts have been investigated. Those investigations concern mainly the thermal abrasion of the Alaskan, Canadian and Siberian coasts rich in permafrost, which are characterized by the most rapid erosion rates, exceeding 10 m/a. In comparison, the coasts of Svalbard and other archipelagos are under-investigated, and in scientific reports they are considered relatively stable. This project has delivered the new information describing the erosion processes on the coasts of the southwestern Spitsbergen. Moreover, the state of knowledge is in constant supplementation by the monitoring data from the two bays; Isbjornhamna and Hansbukta in Hornsund fjord. These are the key locations, considering the proximity of the Polish Polar Station which concentrates the execution of the research conducted by polish scientific facilities. In the number of the project – related studies, the special attention is turned to the increase in the extreme events count, particularly in winter. This observation is important due to the fact, that the decline of the sea ice and shore ice, which both protect the coasts from the wind waves, is also observed in this period. In the studies it was noted that the drift ice plays important role in the damping of the incoming waves. This type of ice is observed mainly in the spring, when the break-up of the sea ice in the Barents Sea occurs. Therefore, the ice’s protective function does not apply for the period of winter. The measured erosion rate for the coast is 1 m/a but it is linked to single, violent storm events. In other periods, the shore can be accreted with the sediment from other parts of the coast. Considering the main direction of the propagation of the wind waves in the North Atlantic, the northern coasts of the west coast of Spitsbergen are the most sensitive to the wave-induced erosion. This phenomenon has to be considered while planning the modernization of the Polish Polar Station. Despite all the effort in reinforcing the shore, the port building and the power generators’ fuel station are in danger. The fuel station is currently circa 10 m away from the winter berm, which is 2 times closer than 7 years ago. This erosion rate is expected to increase, but even when it will remain constant, the area is threatened by an ecological disaster, if the fuel station will not be moved. The initiated monitoring along with the published results of the project should be the starting point for further research including the preparation of the extension project to investigate the sea-ice-rich areas such as the eastern coasts of Spitsbergen. Project financing institution: National Science Centre, Poland.