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May 5, 2022
Alpine Glacier Incompatibality with Heat Waves
Heat waves and glaciers don’t usually go together; however, in the last several years an increasing number of heat waves have affected alpine glacier regions around the world. This is true from Arctic Canada to the Himalayas from the Andes to Alaska. Here we review a number of these heat waves from 2018-2022, that I have been involved with assessing and observing. In particular heat waves leave a greater portion …
July 21, 2021
Tulsequah Glacier, BC 2021 Glacier Lake Outburst Flood
Landsat images of Tulsequah Glacier on June 22 and July 5, 2021. Lake No Lake is between the yellow arrows with the margin of glacier extending upvally on June 22nd. By July it has receded back to main valley and lake has largely drained. The former location of Tulsequah glacier dammed lake is at red arrow. Tulsequah Glacier, British Columbia drains east from the Juneau Icefield and is best …
August 14, 2017
Canadian Columbia River Basin Winter 2016-2017: A Late Rally
Guest Post by Ben Pelto, PhD Candidate, UNBC Geography, [email protected] As the summer ticks by and the fall glacier field season approaches, I’ve realized that I never put out a winter 2016-2017 synopsis, so, like the snowfall this year, it’s arrived late. May 2017, Jesse Milner of the ACMG on the Nordic Glacier in front of the “meteor strike” a newly exposed rock face that spalls ice regularly. Photo by …
July 6, 2017
Pedersen Glacier, Alaska Rapid Retreat 1994-2015
Pedersen Glacier Kenia Peninsula, Alaska retreat from Landsat images in 1994 and 2016. The red arrow indicates 1994 terminus, yellow arrow is 2016 terminus, orange arrow indicates northern tributary and purple dots indicates snowline. Pedersen Glacier is an outlet glacier of the Harding Icefield in Kenai Fjords National Park near Seward, Alaska. The glacier drops quickly from the plateau of the icefield through a pair of icefalls terminating in a …
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 …
May 6, 2016
Mittlerer Guslarferner, Austria Disintegrates 2003-2015
Google Earth images of Mittlerer Guslarferner (MG) and Grosser Guslarferner (GG) from 2003 and 2015. The green line is the 2003 margin. Mittlerer Guslarferner and Grosser Guslarferner are a pair of Austrian glaciers in the Ötztal Alps. A comparison of Google Earth images from 2003 and 2015 indicates that substantial changes that have occurred in just 12 years. In this region between 1997 and 2006 Abermann et al (2009) noted …
December 8, 2015
Vilkitkogo Glacier Rapid Retreat, Novaya Zemlya 1990-2015
Figure 7.4. Vilkitskogo South Glacier (Vs) and Vilkitskogo North Glacier (Vn) compared in 1990 and 2015 Landsat images. Red arrows indicate 1990 terminus positions, yellow arrows 2015 terminus positions and purple arrows upglacier thinning. Vilkitskogo Glacier has two termini that were nearly joined in Vilkitsky Bay in 1990. The glacier flows from the Northern Novaya Zemlya Ice Cap to the west coast and the Barents Sea. The glacier has been …
November 19, 2015
Dismal Glacier, British Columbia Prospects Match Name
Landsat image comparison from 1988 and 2015, red arrow indicates 1988 terminus and yellow arrows 2015 terminus. Purple arrows indicate thinning upglacier. Dismal Glacier flows north from Mount Durrand in the Selkirk Range of British Columbia. It drains from 2500 m to 1950 m and its runoff flows into Downie Creek that is a tributary to the Columbia River and Revelstoke Lake. This lake is impounded by the BCHydro Revelstoke …
September 24, 2015
Bionnassay Glacier Terminus Tongue Detaches, Mont Blanc, France
Bionnassay Glacier drains west from Dôme du Goûter and Aiguille de Bionnassay of the Mont Blanc Massif in France. The glacier has a heavily debris covered terminus and has experienced less retreat from 1980-2010 then other Mont Blance glaciers. Bionnassay retreated 200 m (Moreau et al , 2012), while Mer de Glace retreated 500 m in the interval 1998 to 2008. Gardent et al (2014) observed a 25% decline in …
July 28, 2015
Auyuittuq National Park Ice Cap Downwasting, Baffin Island
Just south of the Penny Ice Cap on Baffin Island in Auyuittuq National Park there are a large number of small ice caps. We focus on three of these ice caps east of Greenshield Lake. The region has been experiencing rapid ice loss, with 50 % of the ice cap area lost in the last few decades (Miller et al, 2008). Miller et al (2008) also observe that these are thin …
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.