You are browsing the archive for south georgia glacier retreat Archives - From a Glacier's Perspective.
February 22, 2019
Hindle Glacier Retreat, South Georgia 2 km 2015-2019
Hindle Glacier comparison in 2017 and 2019 Landsat images. Red arrow is 1989 terminus, pink arrow the 2015 terminus, yellow arrow the 2017 terminus location and green arrow the 2019 terminus location. South Georgia is south of the Polar Front preventing any truly warm season, with the cool maritime climate leading to numerous glaciers covering a majority of the island. Hindle Glacier enters Royal Bay on the east coast of South Georgia …
November 7, 2017
Ryan Glacier, South Georgia Retreats from Tidewater
Ryan (R) and Brunonia Glacier (B) in 1999 and 2016 Landsat images. Red arrows indicate the 1999 terminus and pink arrows a new proglacial lake. Ryan Glacier and Bunonia Glacier span the width of South Georgia near its northwestern tip. Brunonia Glacier flow east and terminates in Sunset Fjord and Ryan Glacier flows to the west into Ice Fjord, which seems more viable as a “Sunset” Fjord. The glacier divide …
January 31, 2017
Hindle Glacier Rapid Retreat Continues, South Georgia
Hindle Glacier comparison in 1989, 2015 and 2017 Landsat images. Red arrow is 1989 terminus, pink arrow the 2015 terminus and red arrow the 2017 terminus location. South Georgia is south of the Polar Front preventing any truly warm season from persisting. The cool maritime climate leads to numerous glaciers covering a majority of the island and quite low equilibrium line altitudes. Hindle Glacier enters Royal Bay on the east coast of …
April 5, 2016
Neumayer Glacier, South Georgia, 5.6 km retreat 1999-2016
Comparison of Neumayer Glacier in 1999 and 2016 Landsat images; red arrow indicates 1999 terminus locations, yellow arrows 2016 terminus locations. Purple arrows indicate upglacier thinning. South Georgia sits amidst the circum Antarctic westerlies and its maritime climate leads to numerous glaciers. This region is famous for the endless march of storms parading around Antarctica . The island is south of the Antarctic Convergence, preventing any truly warm season from persisting. …
July 21, 2015
Hindle Glacier, Accelerating Retreat, South Georgia
Landsat Image of Ross Hindle Glacier 1989 left and 2015 right. Something changed. South Georgia sits amidst the furious if not screaming fifties latitude belt, the circum Antarctic westerlies. This region is famous for the endless march of storms parading around Antarctica. The island is south of the Antarctic Convergence, preventing any truly warm season from persisting. The cool maritime climate leads to numerous glaciers covering a majority of the …
February 8, 2015
Weddel Glacier Thinning-Retreat, South Georgia Island
Weddel Glacier is on the southeast coast of South Georgia Island. It terminates in Beaufoy Cove just north of Gold Harbor.The change in glacier terminus position has been documented by Alison Cook at British Antarctic Survey in a BAS retreat map. In 1958 it reached within 400 m of the coast at the outlet of Beaufoy Cove. Gordon et al., (2008) observed that larger tidewater and sea-calving valley and outlet glaciers …
February 4, 2015
Bertrab Glacier Retreat, South Georgia Island
Bertrab Glacier is on the east coast of South Georgia Island. The change in glacier terminus position has been documented by Alison Cook at British Antarctic Survey in a BAS retreat map. In 1958 it reached the coast in Gold Harbor. Gordon et al., (2008) observed that larger tidewater and sea-calving valley and outlet glaciers generally remained in relatively advanced positions until the 1980s. For Bertrab Glacier the retreat was minimal from …
March 9, 2014
Purvis Glacier Retreat, South Georgia Island
Purvis Glacier is on the norteastern coast of the island, terminating on land near Possession Bay. The British Antarctic Survey (BAS) has mapped many aspects of the island including glacier front changes. Their mapping indicated below shows that the Purvis Glacier terminus was on the coastline in 1974. Here we examine Landsat imagery from 1999 to 2014 to identify more recent changes. Cook et al (2010) quantified the change in …
March 6, 2014
Konig Glacier Retreat, South Georgia Island
Konig Glacier is a land terminating glacier just north of the Neumayer Glacier, ending on an outwash plain in the Antarctic Bay (AB) on the northwest coast of South Georgia. In 1977 the glacier extended to within 300 m of Antarcic Bay and no proglacial lake existed (BAS map). Neumayer Glacier is a calving glacier that has retreated 4800 m from 1999 to 2014 and is dynamically connected to the …
April 10, 2013
Herz Glacier Retreat, South Georgia
Herz Glacier is on the southeast coast of South Georgia Island. The terminus change of this tidewater glacier ending in Iris Bay was completed by the British Antarctic Survey for the 1960-2007 period (Gordon et al, 2008). The map below indicates the slow retreat from 1960-1988 and a more rapid retreat since. Here we examine imagery from Google Earth and Landsat to examine terminus change from 1989-2010. In each image …
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.