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Remote sensing of snow patches on Tröllaskagi Peninsula, N-Iceland
Figure 1. Overview map showing Iceland and the study area Tröllaskagi (red square). On the location map
of Tröllaskagi peninsula the six study areas are indicated: Kerling, Almenningar, Brimnesdalur, Búrfellsdalur,
Sakka and Úlfsdalir. The locations of the weather stations are marked with triangles, the one on Grímsey island
is shown on the overview map. The hillshade is derived from the Digital Elevation Model (25 m resolution) of
Iceland provided by Landmælingar Íslands and overlaid with an ESRI Bing Map. The DEM of Iceland is shown
in the overview map. – Staðsetning rannsóknarsvæðanna, veðurstöðvar og örnefni eru sýnd á yfirlitskorti af
Tröllaskaga sem er unnið upp úr 25 m hæðarlíkani frá Landmælingum og myndkorti frá ESRI.
glaciers were listed on the peninsula (Sigurðsson and
Williams, 2008), but other studies report about 150–
160 glaciers (Björnsson, 1991; Wangensteen et al.,
2006; Björnsson and Pálsson, 2008; Andrés et al.,
2016). The glaciers on the peninsula are partly debris-
covered, mostly debris-covered, debris-free or rock
glaciers (Björnsson, 1991; Fernández-Fernández et
al., 2017). The glaciers are predominantly north fac-
ing and therefore ablation is reduced because of the
shadowing effect of their back-walls. Moreover, ac-
cumulation is increased by snowdrift and avalanches
from the surrounding mountains.
Rock glaciers in Tröllaskagi have been investi-
gated since the 1980s (Martin and Whalley, 1987;
Martin et al., 1991; Hamilton and Whalley, 1995;
Whalley and Martin, 1994; Whalley et al., 1995a;
Whalley et al., 1995b; Guðmundsson, 2010; Keller-
Pirkelbauer et al., 2008; Tanarro et al., 2018,2019).
The discussion on how to distinguish between “real
permafrost rock glaciers” and debris-covered glaciers
is still ongoing. However, different studies have
shown the occurrence of rock glaciers in the area
(e.g. Stötter, 1991; Whalley and Martin, 1994, Wan-
gensteen et al., 2006). According to their origin,
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