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September 10, 2023
Lilliehöökbreen, Svalbard Calving Retreat and Separation 2000-2023
Lilliehöökbreen terminus in 2000 was a continuous 11 km front fed by the tributary glaciers Supan (S), Hellman (H), Bjorlykke (B), Kutte (K), Darboux (D), Becqueret (Be), Cailletet (C), Bruckner (Br) and Forbes (F). By 2023 the continuous front was 8 km long having separated from Supan, Forbes, and Bruckner. Landsat images from 2000 and 2023 indicate a 2.5 km retreat resulting in a ~17 km² fjord expansion. Lilliehöökbreen is …
August 19, 2023
Hall Peninsula Ice Cap, Baffin Island Retains No Snowcover in 2023 Fosters Fragmentation
Hall Peninsula Ice Cap east of Popham Bay is snow free on 8-14-2023. Comparison of Landsat images from 2014 and 2023 arrows indicate four locations where the ice cap is fragmenting and at each Point D is an emerging/expanding bedrock area amidst the ice cap. Hall Peninsula is host to many glaciers and ice caps, almost all unnamed. Here we examine the largest ice cap on the Peninsula using Landsat …
March 17, 2023
Eagle Island Ice Cap, Antarctica Loses its Snowcover in 2023
Eagle Island Ice Cap in Sentinel image from Feb. 19, 2023 illustrating only small patches of snowcover left, 5-10% of ice cap. On February 19, 2023 Eagle Island Ice Cap, Antarctica has less than 10% snowcover. This is less snowcover than observed even after the period of record warm weather over the Antarctic Peninsula in February 2020. Temperature when the all time Antaractica temperature record was set at Esperenza Base. …
March 15, 2023
Volcan Peteroa Glaciers Argentina/Chile Fragment During Snow Cover Free Summers
Volcan Peteroa glaciers in Sentinel images from March 2016 (below) and March 2023 (above). This illustrates fragmentation, 50% area loss, and a new lake formation. All the result of repeated snowcover free glaciers. For an alpine glacier to survive it must remain mostly snowcovered throughout the year, even at the end of the summer. This is one reason for the majesty of glaciated mountains, they shine brightly even in summer. …
March 6, 2023
Snowcover Free Glaciers Generates Fragmenting in Central Andes, Chile
Snowcover free glaciers in the Central Andes in 2014 ad 2023 Landsat images. The ongoing fragmentation and retreat is evident at Point A-H, see closeup details below. The glacier as Point B has melted away, At Point G and H glacier tributaries have separated from the Norte Cipreses Glacier in the valley below. At Point D-F expanding bedrock areas amidst glacier driving further fragmentation. Glaciers at Point A and C …
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 …
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.