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May 29, 2010
Impact of Artesonraju Glacier, Peru Retreat
Artesonraju Glacier is a 3.3 km long glacier in the Cordillera Blanca of Peru drains west from Nevado Artesonraju. The glacier feeds both Lake Artesonraju, a new lake that formed after 1930 and Lago Paron. The two lakes are dammed by glacier moraines and together have posed a hazard of a glacier dammed lake outburst. In 1951 an outburst of water and alluvium traveled from the upper Artesonraju Lake into …
March 19, 2010
Satopanth Glacier Retreat-Debris Cover and Hydropower
Satopanth and Bhagirath Kharak glaciers are located at the headwaters of the Alaknanda River, Uttarakhand, India. Satopanth glaciers has been assessed for the 1962-2006 period by Nainwal and others 2008 . This is accomplished through a comparsion of the 1962 Survey of India map and a total station survey completed in 2006 since 1962. Examination of satellite imagery indicates a retreat of 1900 meters from the Little Ice Age moraine …
February 18, 2010
Brady Glacier, Alaska begins a substantial retreat
Brady Glacier is a large glacier at the south end of the Glacier Bay region, Alaska. When first seen by George Vancouver it was a calving tidewater glacier in 1794 filling Taylor Bay with ice. Brady Glacier ceased calving and advanced approximately 8 km during the 19th century (Klotz, 1899). As Bengston (1962) notes, the advance is likely another example of an advance following a change from tidal to non-tidal …
February 11, 2010
Rotmoosferner Retreat and Dynamic Change
There are currently 51 glaciers in the Ötztal Nature Park. Right now, glaciers cover 27% of the total area of the Ötztal Nature Park. All have been retreating, from 1987-2006. Detailed mapping of these glaciers and Rotmoosferner by Abermann and others (2009), University of Innsbruck provide interesting results. Ötztal glaciers lost 8 % of their total area. One of the glaciers that has a long record of observation is Rotmoosferner. …
December 5, 2009
Yakutat Glacier Rapid Retreat, Alaska
The Yakutat Glacier during the 1894-1895 Alaskan Boundary Survey ended near a terminal moraine on a flat coastal outwash plain. By 1906 the glacier had retreated from the moraine and a new lake was forming. Harlequin Lake. Surveys of the terminus of the glacier indicated a retreat of 1 kilometer in that decade. From 1906-1948 the glacier retreated an additional 5 km. From 1948-1958 the glacier retreated 3.6 km. The …
November 25, 2009
Grasshopper Glacier, Montana-nearly gone
Grasshopper Glacier, the largest is located about 19 km. north of Cook, Montana within Custer National Forest. The glacier on Iceberg Peak occupies a north facing cirque at nearly 3300 m. (11,000 ft.). In 1940, it was about 1.6 km. wide and on its northwest side terminated in a 15-m. cliff. In 1966, seen below, the glacier had an area of 0.42 square kilometers. The name of the glacier is …
November 17, 2009
Hinman Glacier, North Cascades disappears
In the USGS map for Mount Daniels-Mount Hinman in the North Cascades, Washington based on 1958 aerial photographs, overlain in Google Earth. Hinman Glacier is the largest glacier in the North Cascades south of Glacier Peak. Today it is nearly gone. Hinman Lake, unofficial name, has taken the place of the former glacier, which still has a couple of separated relict ice masses. From 1984-2007 all 47 glaciers observed by …
November 7, 2009
Denali National Park, East Taklanika Glacier retreat
The glaciers of Denali National Park are shrinking. The National Park Service has been chronicling the retreat with repeat photographs of glaciers from locations where historic photographs exist. The program has been a cooperation between glaciologist Guy Adema and photographer Ron Karpillo. One example is East Taklanika Glacier. This glacier drains north from the east ridge of Mount Scott. The glacier is currently 5.1 km long, the lower 2.2 km …
October 10, 2009
Snowmaking for Alpine glaciers; where there are enough skiers there is a way.
Snowmaking on glacier’s, sounds like an oxymoron. However, several ski resorts in the Alps have begun doing just that to trying to offset the increased melting of glaciers that occupy a portion of their resorts. This is a more practical application than the insulating blanket that has been used at the Pitzal resort. Stubai Glacier for example has experienced a 33% loss in its area since 1969 shrinking from 1.72 to …
September 6, 2009
Stubai Glacier’s Protective Blanket
The north facing side of the Stubai Glacier, also referred to as the Schaufel Ferner, that comprises the biggest ski area in the area is open all summer down to the Eisgrat lift station. There are two main lifts that traverse up the glacier, some of the towers for the ski lifts are set right on the glacier. The linear features extending down glacier in this satellite view of the …
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.