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January 12, 2017
Recent Climate Change Impacts on Mountain Glaciers – Volume
Landsat Image of glaciers examined in the Himalaya Range: Chapter 10 that straddles a portion of Sikkim, Nepal and Tibet, China. Notice the number that end in expanding proglacial lakes. This January a book I authored has been published by Wiley. The goal of this volume is to tell the story, glacier by glacier, of response to climate change from 1984-2015. Of the 165 glaciers examined in 10 different alpine …
January 4, 2017
Gangotri Glacier Expanded Melt Season & Melt Area in 2016
Purple dots indicate the transient snowline on Gangotri Glacier in the fall and early winter of 2016. Red arrow indicates the terminus of the glacier. The Gangotri Glacier is the largest glacier in the Bhagirathi River watershed, situated in the Uttarkashi District, India. It is one of the larger glaciers in the Himalaya, and like all of the nearby Himalayan glaciers is retreating significantly. Gangotri Glacier provides hydropower as its …
December 9, 2016
Norrearm Fjord Glacier Retreat, Greenland
Apostelens Glacier in Norrearm Fjord Landsat comparison from 1999 to 2016. Red arrows are the 1999 terminus location, yellow arrows the 2016 terminus location and purple arrows indicate an expanding bedrock ridge. “Apostelens” Glacier drains east from a peak of the same name into an arm of Norrearm Fjord, which in turn is part of Lindenow Fjord in southern Greenland. The glacier is a short distance north of Kangersuneq Qingordleq, where …
November 14, 2016
Hagafellsjokull, Iceland Reflects Langjokull Thinning & Retreat
Landsat comparison of the terminus of Hagafellsjökull from 2000 and 2016. The red arrows are the 2000 terminus, the yellow arrows the 2016 terminus. Purple arrows indicate upglacier thinning. Langjökull is the second largest iceap in Icalnd with an area of over 900 square kilometers. The mass balance of the icecap has been reported since 1997 and his lost over 1 m per year during this period (WGMS, 2016). Pope …
November 1, 2016
Desolation Valley, Alaska, Conversion from Glacier to Lake
Retreat of Desolation-Fairweather Glacier from 2010-2016 in Landsat images. The red arrow indicates 2010 terminus positions, yellow arrow the 2016 terminus. Pink arrow a delta exposed by lake level lowering. D=Desolation Glacier. Desolation Glacier flows west from the Fairweather Range into Desolation Valley where in 1986 it joined with the Fairweather Glacier flowing from the north and the Lituya Glacier flowing from the south to fill the valley with glacier …
October 25, 2016
Ross Ice Shelf Shear Zone-Research Focus of Gordon Hamilton
Satellite Image of the Shear Zone: The crevasses do have a surface representation, but are not generally open. Gordon Hamilton lost his life on Saturday Oct. 22, 2016 conducting research in the shear zone between the Ross Ice Shelf and McMurdo Ice Shelf. I had the pleasure of working with and reviewing Gordon’s work; hence, it seems important to elaborate on the research that had brought researchers to this cold …
October 21, 2016
Tasermiut Fjord, Greenland loses its Glacier Connection
Landsat image sequence from 1999-2016. Red arrows mark the 1999 terminus, yellow arrows the 2016 terminus and the purple arrow a tributary that detaches from Semitsiaq (S). Tasermiut Sermeq (T) retreats from the fjord. Tasermuit Fjord in southern Greenland is noted for its beauty, and until recently the fjord terminated at a glacier front. Currently no glacier reaches to the fjord. The retreat over the last two decades is …
October 14, 2016
2016 Field Season Results-North Cascade Glacier Climate Project
For Mount Baker, Washington the freezing level from January-April 20 was not as high as the record from 2015, but still was 400 m above the long term mean. April 1 snowpack at the key long term sites in the North Cascades was 8% above average. A warm spring altered this, with April being the warmest on record. The three-four weeks ahead of normal on June 10th, but three weeks …
October 11, 2016
Shatter & Shudder Glacier Retreat, British Columbia Lakes Form
Red arrow is the 1985 terminus location and yellow arrow the 2016 terminus location. Note the formatiion of new lakes at end of both glaciers. Purple dots is the transient snowline in August of each year. Shatter and Shudder Glacier are at the eastern end of the Spearhead Range in Garibaldi Provincial Park, British Columbia. Osborn et al (2007) mapped the Little Ice Age extent of the glaciers compared to …
September 28, 2016
Storglombreen Glacier Loss, Norway
Landsat images from 199, 2002 and 2016 comparing glaciers draining into Storglomvatnet. Red arrows indicate 1999 terminus locations, purple dots the snowline. Storglomvatnet has several glacier that terminated in the lake in 1999, Storglombreen Nord, Sorglombreen Sud and Tretten. This lake is the main reservoir, 3.5 billion cubic meters that feeds the 350 MW Svartisen Hydropower plant. The lake has an elevation of 585 m, while the power plant is at …
Dean of Academic Affairs at Nichols College and Professor of Environmental Science at Nichols College in Massachusetts since 1989. Glaciologist directing the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project since 1984. This project monitors the mass balance and behavior of more glaciers than any other in North America.