From a Glacier's Perspective

April 3, 2014

Kangiata Sermia, Retreat Southwest Greenland

Kangiata Sermia is an outlet glacier in Southwest Greenland that empties into the Kangersunaq fjord east of Nuuk. Thomas et al (2009) noted that Kangiata Glacier thinned most notably near its terminus decrasing up glacier to negligible thinning 30 km inland. They further found that the glacier bed was above sea level 40 km inland. Sole et al (2010) observed variations in the velocity of this glacier and found that …

March 16, 2014

Reichert Glacier Rapid Retreat, Northern Patagonia Icefield, Chile

Reichert Glacier (Reicher) is at the northwest corner of the North Patagonia Icefield (NPI) and flows west from the Mont Saint Valentin region and ends in the expanding Reicher Lake. Rivera et al (2007) notes that the glacier was named for French geologist Federico Reichert, but that Reicher has ended up as the established spelling. They further note that the glacier lost 4.2 square kilometers of area from 1979 to …

September 1, 2013

North Cascade Glacier Climate Project 2013 Field Report

The 2013 winter season provided close to average snowpack in the North Cascades as indicated by the average SWE at SNOtel stations in the range. The summer melt season has proved to be long, warm and dry. The May-August mean temperature at the station closest to a glacier, Lyman Lake, has been tied for the 2nd warmest in the last 25 years with 2009 and only 2004 warmer. The summer …

July 1, 2013

Juneau Icefield Glacier Terminus Change from Landsat 5 1984 to Landsat 8 2013

The Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP) has been examining the glaciers of the Juneau Icefield since 1946. Until the NASA Landsat program began field measurements and aerial observations were the only means to observe the glaciers of the icefield. For more than 40 years it was Maynard Miller, U of Idaho, who led this expedition that has trained so many of today’s glaciologists, today it is Jeff Kavanaugh, U of …

November 4, 2010

Stephenson Glacier retreat, Heard Island

The Australian Antarctic Division manages Heard Island Island and has undertaken a project documenting changes in the environment on the island. One aspect noted has been the change in glaciers. The Allison, Brown and Stephenson Glacier have all retreated substantially since 1947 when the first good maps of their terminus are available. Fourteen Men by Arthur Scholes (1952) documents a year spent by fourteen men of the Australian National Antarctic …

May 20, 2010

Rwenzori Glacier Retreat-Loss

The Rwenzori Range,Uganda typically referred to as Mountains of the Moon have been rapidly losing their glacier cover. The small, steep glaciers descend the peaks of Mt. Stanley: 5111 m, Mt. Speke: 4891 m and Mt. Baker:4873 m. The Georg Kaser, University of Innsbruck visited the range twice in the early 1990’s to prepare maps of glacier change to compare to a 1906 map derived from documents of the Duke …

December 19, 2009

Helm Glacier Melting Away-2014 Video Update

It is clear that the business model for glaciers in our current climate is not working. The Helm Glacier in the Coast Mountains of southwest British Columbia is an example of this. Helm Glacier drains into the Cheakamus River, which supplies Daisy lake Reservoir and the BC Hydro 157 MW Cheakamus Power Plant. The Cheakamus River has the Dave Marshall Salmon Reserve with over 14 kilometres of winding, re-enhanced salmon spawning river …

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 …