Rohss Bay Glacier Retreat, James Ross Island, Antarctica

On March 4, 2012March 4, 2012 By mspeltoIn Glacier Observations1 Comment

In January 1995 the Prince Gustav Ice Shelf connecting James Ross Island to the Antarctic Peninsula collapsed (Glasser et al 2011). One of the principal glaciers feeding the iceshelf was the outlet glacier from Rohss Bay on James Ross Island. By 1999 this outlet glacier terminus was at the outlet of Rohss Bay. From 1999 to 2009 Rohss Bay opened up as the Rohss Bay glacier retreated 15 km. This retreat represents part of the extensive ice loss, 490 square kilometers for the island from 1988-2009 Davies et al (2011). From 1988-2001, 91 of 100 glaciers on the island examined by Davies et al (2011) retreated. Imagery from the field work by the LARISSA project in the region provides excellent context for the region. A combination of Landsat and Google Earth Imagery from 1999, 2000, 2008 and 2010 illustrates this change in a sequence below. The margin is indicated in each case as is an unnamed island by an arrow at the southwest end of Rohss Bay. Most of the ice loss was the breakup of a floating ice shelf in the bay. Glasser et al (2011) provide a sequence from 2002-2006 that illustrates most of the retreat occurring in this five year period. Currently most of the floating ice of the bay has been lost and retreat should slow down considerably. The ice was lost not through surface melting, but via calving. The typical sequence for ice shelf collapse is thinning from basal and surface melt increases, that leads to weakening and destabilization of the iceshelf, expansion of rifting and then breakup. The retreat on James Ross Island is also observed on the island to the north Vega Island.

Snowshoe Peak Glacier Retreat, Yukon

On March 1, 2012March 1, 2012 By mspeltoIn Uncategorized1 Comment

There was the Yukon Gold Rush and then there are a number of surging glaciers in the Yukon. These two have drawn our attention. In Kluane National Park, besides the large surging outlet glaciers draining the St. Elias Mountains (Donjek, Lowell, Kaskawulsh etc.) there are numerous smaller alpine glaciers in ranges just east of the St. Elias. In a recent ice core study in the Eclipse Icefield it was found that the Gold Rush led to higher fire activity (Yalcin et al., 2004). This post examines several of these glaciers that have not been the focus of any detailed study, in the are of Airdrop Lake and Snowshoe Peak. Each of the glaciers is 1.5 to 2.0 kilometers long, beginning near 2100 meters the summit area of Snow Peak and terminating between 1800 and 1900 m. This is relatively small elevation change for alpine glaciers. In the 2003 Google Earth Imagery the lack of snowcover is evident. The blue line is the terminus position from the map of 1970’s and the brown line a 1998 satellite image. There are a few outrops of rock in the midst of the glacier that formerly terminated at Airdrop Lake. Comparison of a 1987 (top), 2003 (middle) and a 2010 (bottom) Landsat image indicate that the two key outcrops that were in the midst of the glacier in 1990 are at the terminus in 2010. Two others have expanded and with terminus retreat are markedly closer to the margin of the glacier in just seven years from 2003-2010. The lower section of each glacier is quite thin and uncrevassed. The lack of snowcover during many recent years indicate a mass balance loss and glacier thinning that is driving the retreat. It does not appear the glacier that flows toward Airdrop Lake can survive, with thinning high on the glacier and limited retained snowcover. There are some patches of stagnant ice near the terminus of the Airdrop Lake Glacier, this glacier has retreated 250-450 meters from the map to 2003, 20-30% of the glacier length and is still retreating quickly as the 2010 imagery indicates. The Snowshoe Peak glaciers have retreated 150 m to 300 meters which is 10-20% of the glacier length. The retreat of the small glaciers here parallels that of the larger glaciers nearby such as Melbern Glacier.

Tunsbergdalsbreen Glacier Retreat, Norway

On February 27, 2012January 12, 2015 By mspeltoIn Glacier Observations3 Comments

The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) has an excellent glacier monitoring program. Of these ten drain the largest ice cap in Norway the Jostedalsbreen, from 2008-2013 the net change was retreat on all 11. The largest outlet glacier Tunsbergdalsbreen is not one of the closely monitored glaciers. This glacier flows southeast from the icecap, is 18 km long and terminates at 670 meters in a new proglacial lake.

Examination of Tunsbergdalsbreen in Landsat imagery from 1989, 2003, 2011 and 2014. The violet arrows indicate the terminus. In 1989 no lake is evident. By 2003 the lake has begun to develop and has icebergs in it. In 2011 the lake is 400 meters across and has numerous icebergs in it. In 2014 the lake has expanded to a length of 700 m. The glacier is fed by several tributaries coming off the ice cap. At the #3 green arrow, bedrock is by 2010 in the midst of an icefall from the upper ice sheet that was underneath the glacier in 1989 and 2003. At green arrows #1 and #2 the area of bedrock exposure is expanding, indicating thinner and less ice draining from the ice cap into the tongue of the Tunsbergdalsbreen. In 2003, 2011 and 2014 the snowline is at 1450 m, too high to sustain the glacier, the negative mass balance will drive further retreat.

1989 Landsat image

2003 Landsat image

2011 Landsat image

2014 Landsat image

A closeup of the terminus from Google Earth indicates a number of debris covered ice bergs in the lake. This combined with the observed thinning upglacier indicates that retreat will continue. Exposure of bedrock upglacier occurs because of thinning, which only occurs because of mass balance loss which also results in velocity and discharge reductions.

At present the Tunsbergdalsbreen is the focus of an ongoing field project that aims to monitor the glacier on an annual basis documenting the impact of climate change. This project is focussing on monitoring the elevation of the glacier surface, the ice velocity and the front position. Video of the project are also worth examining. In two of these images below, the red arrows in each indicate the thin relatively uncrevassed lower reach. The low slope suggests the lake basin will continue to expand as this area is lost. These are 2013 images and in fact some of this retreat has occurred. Upglacier of the red arrows there is limited crevassing but the slope does increase.
In 2010 -2014 glacier mass balances across Norway were negative. The nearby Sporteggbreen Glacier is experiencing signficant area and volume loss.

2012 Google Earth Image.

Images above from Pål Gran Kielland at the Norsk Bremuseum, a partner in the Tunsbergdalsbreen Project.

Penny Ice Cap southwestern margin retreat

On February 20, 2012 By mspeltoIn Glacier Observations1 Comment

Examination of 1991 and 2009 Landsat imagery highlights the retreat of the Penny Ice Cap at its southwestern margin. The glaciers and lakes in this region are unnamed. The Penny Ice Cap is one of two large ice caps on Baffin Island and is the southernmost of the two, with an area of more than 5600 square kilometers. On the east side the glacier exit the ice cap through spectacular mountains. The westside spreads across rolling upland terrain. In this post we examine the margin at the southwest corner, where the ice cap ends in a series of upland lakes. Changes in the margin are identifed from Landsat images from 1991-top, 2003-middle and 2009-bottom. The snowline in this region is near 900 meters in the 1991 and 2003 images. In the 2009 image the snowline is at least 1100 meters leaving the southwest corner of the Penny Ice Cap with a minimal accumulation zone. Zdanowizc et al (2012) note that in recent years the ice cap has experienced heightened melt and that little retained snowpack survives the summer, that most of the retained accumulation is refrozen meltwater (superimposed ice). In each image key locations are indicated: the nunataks are marked with violet arrows as is the margin downstream of the nunataks, key islands and peninsulas are noted with green arrows that are at the 1991 margin, the orange arrow indicates a region just east of a key marker lake. Landsat imagery from 2003 and 2009 indicates the same locations. It is evident that new islands, lakes and peninsulas are developing. The retreat and formation of new lakes at the orange and violet marginal arrow are apparent the appearance of new islands in the lakes at the green arrows is also evident. One of the largest marginal changes is downstream of the nunataks. In 1991 the margin here had no notable indent from the rest of the margin and the glacier surface was not notably debris covered. In 2009 the margin has developed a new lake as an indent has formed and the glacier surface has more evident debris. This debris is too thin to insulate the ice underneath and instead will reduce the albedo and enhance melting. The nunatak is also expanding particularly toward the margin. Overlaying the 1991 and 2009 images in Google earth provides comparison of the margin of 1991 to the Google Earth imagery and 2009 imagery. The retreat along this section of the ice cap is 300-400 meters during this 18 year period. The driving force has been an increase in temperature and this has caused mass losses on ice caps throughout the Canadian Arctic (Gardner, et al. 2011) and (Sharp et al, 2011). The mass losses of the Penny Ice Cap are also affecting the eastern margin around Coronation Glacier.

Ngozumpa Glacier Retreat Tongue Disintegration, Nepal

On February 16, 2012February 17, 2012 By mspeltoIn Glacier Observations1 Comment

Ngozumpa Glacier (also Ngozumba) is a large debris covered valley glacier draining south from Cho Oyu and Gyanchung Kang one valley west of the Khumbu valley. The lower kilometers of this glacier is heavily debris covered, similar to the Khumbu Glacier and Imja Glacier. Above image from Doug Benn. From the terminus at 4700 meters to 4900 meters a distance of 8 kilomters the glacier is increasingly riddled with supraglacial lakes (lakes on top of glacier) as this section downwastes. Velocity in this reach is less than 5 meters/year, essentially stagnant. The snowline of the glacier has been at nearly 6000 meters in recent years. On the following image the snowline (blue dots), accumulation areas (A) and terminus blue arrow are indicated. It is evident that more than 50% of this glacier is debris covered. An examination of Landsat imagery from 1992, 2000 and 2009 indicates the expansion of these lakes near the terminus. These lakes (S) in the 2010 (Goggle Earth imagery) are beginning to coalesce and look to be creating a proglacial lake (lake at front of glacier) at the terminus of the glacier. Benn et al (2001) examining the supraglacial lakes hypothesized that the glacier was close to forming a moraine dammed proglacial lake. This is a scenario very similar to what has developed on Menlung Glacier, which is just over the pass into Tibet from the Ngozumpa. Further upglacier the surface of the glacier is riven with more lakes amidst the debris covered relatively stagnant ice. Further upglacier the thinning is evident in the expansion of a bedrock knob in the midst of the glacier (A), the decrease in surface elevation compared to the lateral moraine-trimline (L) and the quite high equilibirum line for 2009 (E). Strong thinning in the accumulation zone, though less than the ablation zone, of Khumbu Glacier was found by Bolch et al(2011)

Samudra Tupa Glacier Retreat and Himalaya glacier mass losses

On February 11, 2012June 9, 2014 By mspeltoIn Uncategorized3 Comments

Samudra Tupa Glacier is one of the largest in the Chenab Basin, India. Pink arrow indicates the terminus in a glacier lake and A mark the accumulation zone with the red line indicating the equilibrium line in 1998. In a glacier inventory in the basin by Kulkarni et al (2007) the 466 glaciers in the basin were observed to have lost 21% of their total area from 1962 to 2001. This program coordinated by the Space Applications Centre of the Indian Space Research Organization, has combined field observations of the glacier with remote sensing to observe the changes in area and length of the glaciers, immediately below is a 2006 picture of the glacier terminus and proglacial lake from Kulkarni. . The terminus ends in an expanding proglacial lake. The lower glacier is heavily debris covered, has a low slope and is essentially stagnant. These factors will lead to continued retreat. In this post we use 1998, 2002 and 2011 Landsat imagery to examine the terminus of this glacier. The glacier terminates at 4225 meters, the snowline in 1998 is 5200 meters and 2002 is 5300 meters, neither of the images is at the end of the ablation season. An ELA of 5200-5300 meters leaves an accumulation area insufficient to maintain the current glacier size. In 1970 the ELA was at 4900 meters Kulkarni et al (2007) . A close up view of the termini of Samudra Tupa-pink arrow and a nearby unnamed glacier-green arrow indicate the changes in 1998, 2002 and 2011 in that order. The green arrow points not to the terminus but to a prominent knob near the end of the glacier in each image, it is the control point. The last two images illustrate the changes from 2002 to 2011 in an image overlay. The last image is the 2011 termini of Samudra Tupa Glacier from (Kulkarni, 2009). The retreat is noted by Kulkarni, 2009 as 13 meters/year during the study period. From 2002 to 2011 the glacier retreated nearly 200 m, closer to 20 meters/year. The retreat of this glacier is less than that of other large glaciers nearby Sara Umaga and Gangotri. The loss in glaciated area in the basin of 21% is also similar to other areas in the Altai, Tibet, Nepal Himalaya, Khumbu Nepal and Tien Shan.

Speel Glacier Retreat, Coast Range Alaska

On February 9, 2012June 27, 2014 By mspeltoIn Glacier Observations1 Comment

Speel Glacier a 3.2 km retreat from 1984-2013, lake expansion and tributary separation.
In 1984 I had a good chance to observe Speel Glacier while flying into Juneau, AK to work with the Juneau Icefield Research Program on the Juneau Icefield. Speel Glacier is south of the Taku Inelt east of Juneau, Alaska. Unlike the map on my lap, there was now a big lake at the terminus of the glacier. This post examines the retreat of this remote glacier and the expansion of the unnamed lake at its terminus. In 1948 Speel Glacier ended at the head of a braided outwash plain, generated by the Speel River. Upglacier in 1948 there was a lake impounded by the glacier, Speel Lake. Today Speel Lake is gone and a much larger proglacial lake exists. The lower part of the glacier was heavily debris covered and stagnant in 1948. By 1968 the glacier had retreated 1 km just to the edge of the current lake. In 1984 the lake was 2.2 km long. In the images below Landsat 1984, Google Earth 2003, Landsat 2006, Landsat 2009 and 2013, the primary accumulation zone is marked ACC, secondary accumulation areas are indicated by black arrows, the 1984 terminus pink arrow, 2003 terminus blue arrow, 2006 terminus green arrow, 2009 terminus yellow. In the 1984 Landsat image the glacier had retreated 2 kilometers from the 1968 position and was fed by a shared accumulation zone with the Wright Glacier-black arrows in addition to the main accumulation area of the glacier above the main icefall on the east side of the glacier. By 2003 the glacier had retreated 1.9 km to where the lake bends east, and the main tributary from the north separated from the glacier. In the 2006 imagery the glacier has retreated an additional 1.8 km. The connections with the Wright Glacier accumulation area had been lost. The tributary from the north that has its own accumulation zone was now completely separated. The glacier was then solely dependent on a single accumulation zone, ACC. In 2009 the glacier had retreated 200 meters from 2006. By 2013 the glacier had retreated from the lake entirely a 6 km retreat since 1948. This should lead to a reduced rate of retreat.

The rapid retreat of this glacier has reduced its area at low elevation considerably. This is improving the glaciers accumulation area ratio, to be in equilibrium the glacier needs at least 60% of its area to be in the accumulation zone, in this region Pelto (1987) noted that no glaciers in the region were advancing that did not have an accumulation area ration above 67. In 1984 the accumulation area ratio was 48. In 2006 the AAR is 54, ablation area is being lost faster than accumulation area. The icefall marks the boundary between the ablation zone and the accumulation zone.The retreat of this glacier fits the pattern of other glaciers in the region Eagle, Field, Gilkey, and Chickamin. Today the lake averages nearly 1.5 km in width and is over 5 km long.
Landsat imagery 1984

2003 Google Earth image

Landsat imagery 2006

2009 Landsat image

2013 Landsat image- Red arrow is 1984 terminus, purple the 2013 terminus and yellow arrows detached former tributaries.

Severnaya Zemlya Glacier Change, Russia

On February 3, 2012 By mspeltoIn Glacier Observations1 Comment

Severnaya Zemlya is a Russian Island group at the transition from the Kara Sea to the Laptev Sea. This island group is 50 % ice covered, with 18,000 square kilometers of glacier cover. Severnaya Zemlya has been the focus of a detailed remote sensing based study of glacier change by Sharov et al (2010) They observed a mean change in Severnaya glacier thickness of -7.8 m since the 1980’s. The annual rate of ice loss is 4.8 km³/a, a strongly negative net balance. They found that most ice caps have steepened since 1980, Albanov and Dezhnev have both gotten thicker in the center while retreating at the margin. Imagery from this region is scant. The glacier in this region have both small snow accumulation and small melting. Overall most of the ice caps are composed of superimposed ice, that is snow that melted and then refroze before exiting the ice cap. Several ice cores have been drilled through the ice sheets identifying the rate of accumulation through time Klementyev et al (1991) and Kotlyakov et al (2004) the last 8000 years on Vavilov Ice Cap.
First on the Dezhnev Ice Cap thickening of up to 13 m was noted at the top of the ice cap by Sharov et al (2010). In this post we examine a 2000 (top) and a 2010 (middle) Landsat image that shows all of the Dezhnev Ice Cap with the Albanov Ice Cap being half obscured by clouds in the 2000 image. In the Landsat comparison pay particular attention to the region just beneath Points A-C. At Point A we see an expansion of the small proglacial lake. At Point B and C we see exposure of new bare ground as areas of thin ice near the periphery of the ice cap have been lost. In 2010 there is no snow remaining on Dezhnev, however, this by itself does not indicate there was no accumulation that year, as superimposed formation cannot be distinguished from areas of bare ice that experienced ablation in the image. For Albanov Ice Cap there is a modest retreat from the locations noted with arrows that are linear-low spots often sometimes filled with meltwater. In the bottom image a closeup of Dezhneve, an arrow indicates a low spot in the midst of the ice cap that will be prone to melt out. In this image a melt pond has developed there.

Icemantle Glacier Retreat, British Columbia

On January 31, 2012January 31, 2012 By mspeltoIn Uncategorized3 Comments

Icemantle Glacier is on the north side of Greenmantle Peak just north of Snowcap lake in southern British Columbia, viewed from the northeast in the Google Earth image below. It is not an often visited area and the glacier has not been previously assessed for its response to climate change. Other glaciers in the area have, the outlet glaciers of Snowcap Iceﬁeld lost 17% of there area in from 1987-2007. Stave Glacier has retreated 840 meters from 1977-2002 (Koch et al, 2009) . Just to the north Freshfield Glacier has retreated since. The glacier was mapped in 1987 and at that time no lake existed close to the terminus. The lake in 2006 is 500 meters across. The glacier is 160 meters from the lake, indicating a retreat of 660 meters from 1987, blue line. In a 2009 Ikonos image the glacier has retreated an additional 75 meters. The last image in the sequence indicates the 1987 terminus position blue and 2009 terminus red. The snowline on the glacier has been at least as high as 2000 meters in 2003-2006 and 2009. This leaves less than 35% of the glacier in the accumulation zone consistently. This is insufficient to maintain equilibrium and will drive continued retreat. The ongoing retreat is also evident from the thin nature of the current terminus, a small lake is also forming at the current terminus.

Hallstatter Glacier, Austria retreat

On January 28, 2012January 28, 2012 By mspeltoIn Glacier Observations1 Comment

The Hallstatter Glacier (also sometimes called Dachstein Glacier along with the Gosau Glacier) is on the north slope of Dachstein an area of heavy recreational use. The result is good photographic records of glaciers change. This record combined with a recent cooperative project between University of Innsbruck, Blue Sky Weather Analysis and Energie AG Upper Austria provides a good snapshot of glacier change in northern Austria. The glacier begins at 2800 meters and descends to 2200 meters, image below from University of Innsbruck. This project has compiled the annual terminus change of the glacier from 1950-2007, in the image below. The retreat from 1950-1975 averaged 8 meters per year. A period of minor readvance from 1977-1991 occurred, followed by increasingly rapid retreat from 1992-2007 averaging over 10 meters per year in the last decade. Total retreat has been 350 meters from 1950-2007. Over the last century the change is chronicled in the two images, 1900 and 2007, from the Dachstein Project and the 2009 margin is traced in a Google Earth Image, blue line. This project was undertaken because of the importance of the glacier runoff to hydropower production along the Traun and Gosau Watersheds in particular. The change in terminus via mapping from 1969-2002 is evident in the Innsbruck image (2002), the Google Earth image is from 2009. There is thinning particularly of the width of the two main terminus tongues.The mass balance of the glacier has been measured since 2007, every year has had negative balances. In 2011 the snowline was again high, snowpack very limited at the end of the melt season which persisted into October. An Ikonos image from October 2, 2011 indicates that 30-35 percent of the glacier is snowcovered, this is the AAR and it needs to be at 60 for equilibrium.

Index of posts 2009-Jan. 2012

On January 26, 2012 By mspeltoIn Uncategorized

Glacier Index List
Below is a list of the individual glacier posts examining our warming climates impact on each glacier. This represents the first 2.5 years of posts, 166 total posts, 152 different glaciers. I have worked directly on 39. The others are prompted by fine research that I had come across, cited in each post or inquiries from readers and other scientists. I then look at additional often more recent imagery to expand on that research. The imagery comes either from MODIS, Landsat, Geoeye or Google Earth.

New Zealand
Tasman Glacier
Murchison Glacier
Donne Glacier
Mueller Glacier, NZ
Gunn Glacier, NZ
Africa
Rwenzori Glaciers

Himalaya
Zemu Glacier, Sikkim
Theri Kang Glacier, Bhutan
Zemestan Glacier, Afghanistan
Khumbu Glacier, Nepal
Imja Glacier, Nepal
Gangotri Glacier, India
Milam Glacier, India
Satopanth Glacier, India
Kali Gandaki Headwaters, Nepal
Menlung Glacier, Tibet
Boshula Glaciers, Tibet
Urumquihe Glacier, Tibet
Sara Umaga Glacier, India
Dzhungharia Alatau, Kazakhstan
Petrov Glacier,Kyrgyzstan
Hailuogou Glacier, China

Europe
Mer de Glace, France
Dargentiere Glacier, France
Grand Motte and Pramort Glacier Tignes Ski area, France
Saint Sorlin, France
Sommelier Glacier
Obeeraar Glacier, Austria
Ochsentaler Glacier, Austria
Pitzal Glacier, Austria
Dosde Glacier, Italy
Maladeta Glacier, Spain
Presena Glacier, Italy
Triftgletscher, Switzerland
Rotmoosferner, Austria
Stubai Glacier, Austria
Ried Glacier, Switzerland
Cavagnoli Glacier, Switzerland
Chuebodengletscher and Ghiacciaio-del-Pizzo-Rotondo
Forni Glacier, Italy
Peridido Glacier, Spain
Engabreen, Norway
Midtdalsbreen, Norway
TungnaarJokull, Iceland
Gigjokull, Iceland
Skeidararjokull, Iceland
Kotlujokull, Iceland
Lednik Fytnargin, Russia
Rembesdalsskaka, Norway
Hansbreen, Svalbard
Nannbreen, Svalbard
Hornbreen and Hambergbreen, Svalbard
Roze and Sredniy Glacier, Novaya Zemyla
Irik Glacier, Mount Elbrus, Russia

Greenland
Mittivakkat Glacier
Ryder Glacier
Humboldt Glacier
Petermann Glacier
Kuussuup Sermia
Jakobshavn Isbrae
Umiamako Glacier
Kong Oscar, Glacier
Upernavik Glacier
Sortebrae Glacier, Greenland

South America
Colonia Glacier, Chile
Artesonraju Glacier, Peru
Nef Glacier, Chile
Tyndall Glacier, Chile
Zongo Glacier, Bolivia
Llaca Glacier, Peru
Seco Glacier, Argentina
Onelli Glacier, Argentina
Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru
Glacier Gualas, Chile

Antarctica and Circum Antarctic Islands
Pine Island Glacier
Fleming Glacier
Hariot Glacier
Amsler Island
Stephenson Glacier, Heard Island
Neumayer, South Georgia
Ampere, Kerguelen
Nordenskjold Coast, Antarctic Peninsula
Prospect Glacier, Antarctic Peninsula
Ross Hindle Glacier, South Georgia
Vega Island Ice Cap

North Cascade Glacier Climate Project Reports

Forecasting Glacier Survival
North Cascade Glacier Mass Balance 2010
Columbia Glacier Annual Time Lapse
North Cascade Glacier Climate Project 2009 field season
28th Field Season Schedule of the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project
North Cascade Glacier Climate Project 2011 Field Season
BAMS 2010
2011 Glacier mass balance North Cascades and Juneau Icefield
Taku Glacier TSL Paper

Northwest Vega Island, Antarctica Glacier Retreat

On January 22, 2012March 9, 2015 By mspeltoIn Glacier Observations

Vega Island is a heavily glaciated island just east of the northernmost section of the Antarctic Peninsula (map from Davies et al, 2010 Aberystwyth University). The mass balance of Bahia Del Diablo Glacier (BDD green arrow) located on this island has been monitored by an Argentina research group since 1999/2000 (Skvarca et al 2004 and WGMS, 2010). Nine of these ten years have seen negative mass balances, four substantial losses. The glacier begins at 600 meters and ends at 100 m, with an ELA of 425 meters on average, an image from Pedro Skvarca of Bahia Del Diablo indicates the ice cap nature of the glaciers on Vega Island. Eight kilometers west of Bahia Del Diablo is are three adjacent glaciers at the northwest corner of the island (NW: burgundy Arrow on Vega Map) that is the focus here. In the initial glacier inventory these were listed as glacier 02-04 on Vega Island (Rabassa et al, 1982) This glacier barely reaches to the ocean, but the amount of bare land exposed at the coast along the glacier front is increasing. Further during several recent years this glacier has lost all of its snowcover. This glacier has only a tiny bit of its total area above 400 meters, below the observed ELA of the last decade on Bahia del Diablo. This is an issue for a couple of adjacent glaciers as well. Note the 1999 Google Earth imagery and the Landsat imagery from 2000 that indicate the lack of snowcover, green arrows. In 1999 and 2000 the glacier reached the coast along a distance of 900 meters, red arrows in second image. Note the change in the size of the bedrock exposed near the terminus, burgundy arrow from 1999 to 2011. The glacier frontage by 2011 had been reduced to 250 meters, the bare brown red areas have nearly merged along the coast, soon this glacier will not be reaching the shoreline. The bare rock area between two lobes of the glacier has also expanded, from 1999-2011, burgundy arrows. In 2007 and 2008 there was very little if any snowpack left on this glacier by the end of the melt season. The issue for a glacier without a consistent accumulation zone, is that it will not survive (Pelto, 2010). These glaciers are more like ice caps are not thin and are not melting away quickly. The glacier volume loss is consistent with that observed all around the Antarctic Peninsula, Nordenskjold Coast