July 9, 2023
Baird Glacier, Alaska Retreat Generates Proglacial Lake
Baird Glacier on 8-11-1990 and 7-6-2023 Landsat images indicating initiaton of retreat and formation of proglacial lake (PGL). The lake is now 3.25 km², retreat has been 2600 m since 1990-yellow dots indicate margin. Baird Glacier drains the west side of the Stikine Icefield in southeast Alaska. It is the only glacier of the Stikine Iceifield that did not retreat significantly from 1960-2010. Pelto et al (2013) predicted the onset …
June 29, 2023
Expanding Proglacial Lakes on Land Terminating Margin of Sermeq Kujalleq
Expansion of proglacial lakes (A-D) along west margin of Greenland Ice Sheet along southern land terminus of Sermeq Kujalleq in 1985 and 2022 Landsat images. How et al (2021) in an inventory of Greenland Ice Sheet proglacial lakes, noted a 75% increase in lake frequency from 1985 to 2017 along the western margin of the Ice Sheet. In 1985 I had a chance to work on the Sermeq Kujalleq (Jakobshavn …
June 21, 2023
Rodman Glacier, Alaska Retreat Expands Lake Ustay
Rodman Glacier in Landsat images from 1987 to 2021 indicating 1987 terminus=red arrow, A=Akwe Lake, U=Ustay Lake, B=glacier base exposed, C=expanding nunatak Rodman Glacier flows south from the Brabazon Range ending in Ustay Lake at the margin of the Yakutat Foreland. In the 1906 International Boundary Commission survey of the region Ustay Lake does not yet exist, Akwe Lake has just started to form with the terminus ending in it …
June 8, 2023
Terra Nivea Ice Cap Expanding Bedrock Outcrops and Proglacial Lakes
Terra Nivea Ice Cap in Sentinel false color images from 2017 and 2022. Point A=bedrock outcrops expanding. Point L=expanding proglacial lakes. Red arrow=supraglacial stream chanels, yellow arrow=annual layers, green arrow=location where ice cap will separate. Terra Nivea Ice Cap is the southern most Ice Cap in North America, on the Terra Incognita Peninsula of Baffin Island. Mercer (1956) noted that the ice cap accumulation during most years was via superimposed …
June 5, 2023
Pyramid and Van Trump Glacier, Mount Rainier No Longer Glaciers-Thresholds Leading to Glacier Loss
Van Trump (VT) and Pyramid (P) Snowfields Oct. 19, 2022 false color Sentinel image. VT1 and P1 are the largest at ~0.046 and 0.048 km² respectively. Scott Beason, Taylor Kenyon, Rob Jost and Lauren Walker (2023) provide an excellent record of glacier extent change on Mount Rainier Glaciers for the 1896-2021 period. They note a 41.6% reduction in Mount Rainier glacier area during this 125 year period. This study identified …
May 25, 2023
Sawyer Glacier, Tracy Arm Alaska Retreats from Tidewater
Sawyer Glacier Alaska in False Color Sentinel images from Sept. 12, 2022 and May 23, 2023. Note the the calving face in 2022 between the yellows arrows has become bare ground by May 23, 2023. TA=Tracy Arm Sawyer Glacier in May 19, 2023, taken by Steve Backus (Lindblad Expeditions Naturalist), not touching tidewater. Sawyer Glacier, is an Alaskan glacier where the retreat has long been viewed by many visitors. It …
May 23, 2023
Turnback Glacier, South Georgia, Retreats from Tidewater
Retreat of Turnback Glacier (T) from the shore of Fortuna Bay (FB) and retreat of Compass and Crean Glacier (A,B,C) exposing new terrain along the shore of Antarctic Bay (AB) in Landsat images. Also note the expansion of bedrock nunatks at Point E-H. Turnback Glacier terminated on the west shore of Fortuna Bay on the northwest coast of South Georgia Island. In 1989 the glacier extended the shore of Fortuna …
May 18, 2023
Thorthormi Glacier Retreat and Rapid Lake Expansion 2019-2023
Thorthormi Glacier terminus lake in false color Sentinel images from October 2022 and May 2023. Red arrow=terminus locaiton in August, 2019, Orange arrow=terminus location October 2021, Yellow arrow terminus location in October 2022. Lake area in October 2022 is 4.3 km². Thorthormi Glacier drains south from the border with China into the Pho Chu River, Bhutan. Osti et al (2012) reported in detail on the nature of potential Glacier lake …
May 16, 2023
Mount Baker Glaciers, Washington Snowpack Recession and Evolution May 2022-May 2023
Sholes Glacier snowcover extent change from 8-8-2022 to 10-17-2022. Snowcover declined from 98% of glacier to 10% of glacier during this period. Black dots are measurement sites, yellow dots the transient snowline, purple contour= 1.5 m, green contour= 2 m, brown contour= 2.5 m, and orange contour= 3 m snow depths on 8-8-2022. The 2022 melt season for Moutn Baker glaciers was one for the record books, with a slow …
April 28, 2023
Jacobsen Glacier, BC Diminishes to Smallest Size in Thousands of Years
Written with Dan Smith Jacobsen Glacier in Landsat images from 1987 and 2019. Red arrow 1987 terminus location, yellow arrow 2022 terminus location and purple dots the snowline. Point A indciates ice marginal lake in 1987, Point C is the glacier junction, Point B an emerging rock rib and Point D a nunatak. Jacobsen Glacier is a large outlet glacier flowing from the Monarch Icefield in the Pacific Ranges of …
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.