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January 9, 2015
Anderson Glacier, Olympic Mountains, Washington Disappears
Anderson Glacier was the headwaters of the Quinault River in the Olympic Mountains of Washington. A century ago the glacier was 2 km long, and a half kilometer wide. Retreat of this glacier in the first half of the 20th century exposed a new alpine lake as the glacier retreated 1 kilometer. From 1950-1980 the glacier diminished slowly. From 1959 to 1990 the glacier thinned and retreated from the shore …
November 15, 2014
Tchap Dara Valley Glacier Retreat, Afghanistan
The Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan is quite remote. A look at maps or Google Earth will indicate the lack of even place names except in the main river valleys. The Secret Compass uses this fact to advantage for expeditions in the region. Here we examine three glaciers north of Sarhad two draining into the Tchap Dara Valley. Haritashiya et al (2009) examined fluctuations of 30 Wakhan Cooridor glaciers from 1976-2003. …
October 5, 2014
Rainbow Glacier: Record Ablation in 2014 for 1984-2014 Period
From 1984-2014 we have monitored the mass balance of the Rainbow Glacier on Mount Baker, North Cascade Range, Washington. This entails detailed monitoring of snowpack depth in July and August, and subsequent ablation to the end of the melt season. On July 13th the glacier was completely snowcovered. By August 10th the snowline had risen to 1575 m, with 1.4 m of ablation since July 13th. We measured the snowdepth …
November 15, 2012
Yajun Peak Glacier Retreat, Afghanistan
Glaciers of Afghanistan have received little detailed attention for obvious reasons, only satellite image analysis of selected areas has been completed Haritashiya et al (2009) and Shroder and Bishop (2010), both studies noting a significant retreat and downwasting. In this post glaciers in the remote area around Yajun Peak in the Hindu Kush 150 km northeast of Bagram Airbase and 75 km west of the Pakistan Border are examined. Landsat …
September 23, 2012
Emend River Headwaters Glacier Retreat, Hindu Kush, Takhar Province, Afghanistan
The Emend River drains from the Hindu Kush Mountains and joins the Worsaj River and eventually drains into the Amu Darya River. This area is not impacted much by the summer monsoon and glacier runoff is key to summer streamflow. The runoff from the glacier is tapped for extensive irrigation in the valley bottom both along the Emend, and eventually downstream near Taliquan (bottom image). At the headwaters of the …
December 23, 2009
Zemestan Glacier, Afghanistan Retreats
The Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan is not easy to get to, as a result field study of its glaciers are quite limited. This is where the Global land ice Monitoring System (GLIMS) comes in. GLIMS acquires satellite imagery of glaciated areas, making these images available to researchers and processing them to an extent for inventory purposes. GLIMS is led by Jeff Kargel at the University of Arizona. In the Wakhan …
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.