Northern Research Basins Water Balance
(Proceedings of a workshop held at Victoria, Canada, March 2004). IAHS Publ. 290, 2004, 129–142Estimation of water balance in and around the Mittivakkat Glacier basin, Ammassalik Island, southeast Greenland
Bent Hasholt & Sebastian H. Mernild
Institute of Geography, University of Copenhagen, Øster Voldgade 10, DK-1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark
Abstract
The arctic alpine landscape on Ammassalik Island features catchments with varying glacier coverage. Climatic data from three stations were analysed, water balances were calculated, and the problems in estimating the water balance in this type of catchment are discussed. Potential evapotranspiration according to Makkink (1957) varies from 379 mm year-1 to 400 mm year-1; corrected precipitation varies between 1036 mm year-1 and 1255 mm year-1; and modelled runoff from 702 mm year-1 to 1708 year-1 on a 4-year average. Comparisons of modelled runoff with measured values indicate that the higher runoff values, based on corrected precipitation, are in the right order of magnitude. The high measured runoff values can partly be explained by excess runoff from glaciers in the area having a negative annual mass balance.Key words
glacier; low arctic area; Sermilik; southeast Greenland; Tasiilaq; water balance