Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Statistical Analysis of Topography of Isvika
Bay, Murchisonfjorden, Svalbard
Mateusz Moskalik and Robert J. Bialik
1
Introduction
It is common knowledge that the topography of Earth, other planets, and even
moons and asteroids are formed by a variety of surface-forming processes acting at
various spatial and temporal scales (Nikora and Goring
2005
). The most important
processes formed the topography of the bottom of bays in the region of Svalbard are
tectonics and processes associated with glaciers, such as movement, erosion,
sedimentation, and forming of glacial rivers. An analysis of these processes is
vital not only for many aspects of geomorphology and sedimentology but also for
coastal engineering and even fluvial hydraulic and hydrology, including the protec-
tion of coastal zones and the development and management of aquatic habitats.
In this chapter, we focus on the Isvika Bay bed topography by detailed statistical
analysis based on the acoustic measurements carried out during Polish Polar
Expedition (PPE) in 2009 (Salonen et al.
2010
). In the first part of this chapter,
the study area and measurement techniques are briefly described. In the next part,
the results of statistical analysis are presented and investigated. For the purpose of
this study, we followed the Nikora and Goring's (
2004
) approach proposed for the
Mars topography. In addition, the comparison between the statistical analysis of
Mars topography carried out by Nikora and Goring (
2004
,
2005
,
2006
) representing
the global scale and topography of Isvika Bay representing the local scale is also
shown. Such a study may help in verifying a methodology for identification of
morphological forms and analyzing a leading mechanism in topography develop-
ment in more complex regions such as Brepollen, also located at Svalbard archipel-
ago, but in contrast to Isvika Bay, formed by six glaciers. This region will be
analyzed in the near future, and because of its complexity we suspect very interest-
ing results. We also believe that the proposed analysis, which is in fact a quite
simple method based only on the statistical moments, may provide enough infor-
mation about processes forming planetary surface in local as well as global scale.
