Links between modes of objectively defined Northern Hemisphere atmospheric variability and the mass balance indices from two glaciers in Svalbard covering the period 1966/1967 -1995 are explored in this paper. Principal components of the mass balance indices have been used to calculate two indices, one representing Summer melt and the other mass balance related to winter snow accumulation. Correlations between the time coefficients of these principal components and a set of Northern Hemisphere modes of atmospheric variability provide insight into the controls associated with glacial mass balance. Summer melt is associated with the East Atlantic Jet Pattern in the Boreal spring, but significant lead correlations with the Tropical Northern Hemisphere pattern and the West Pacific Pattern also occur. The strongest simultaneous correlations with the winter snow accumulation index result from the modulation of the atmospheric circulation by the North Pacific pattern. The strongest precursor to winter snow accumulation occurs through a phase of the well known Pacific North America pattern and Tropical North American pattern which relate to ENSO. It appears that controls of glacial mass balance in Svalbard may be traced, in part, to heat flux exchanges in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The time delay for the signal to reach the high Arctic suggests predictability potential of glacial mass balance parameters.