Herbert Glacier Retreat, Alaska 1984-2016

Comparison of Herbert Glacier terminus position in Landsat images from 1984 and 2016. Red arrow 1984 terminus, yellow arrow 2016 terminus and pink arrow a tributary that has separated.

Herbert Glacier drains the west side of the 4000 square kilometer Juneau Icefield in Southeast Alaska. It is the glacier just north of the more well known Mendenhall Glacier and just south of Eagle Glacier. It is also the first glacier I ever visited, July 3, 1981 during my first field season with the Juneau Icefield Research Program. Here we examine the changes from the August 17, 1984 Landsat 5 image to a Sept. 1, 2016 Landsat 8 image.

The glacier descended out of the mountains ending on the coastal plain in 1948. In 1984 we examined the terminus of this glacier, which was in the small proglacial lake at 150 m. Herbert Glacier has retreated 600 m since 1984. The width of the terminus has also declined. The pink arrow indicates a tributary that no longer feeds the main glacier. The retreat has not been enhanced by iceberg calving as is the case at Mendenhall Glacier. The overall retreat is also less than Eagle Glacier. In the Google Earth images below from 2005 and 2013 the retreat is 200 m, the terminus has fewer crevasses in 2013 suggesting a reduced velocity and faster retreat to come. The annual equilibrium line on the glacier has averaged 1150 m from 2003-2016. By contrast in August 1984 I skied to the top of the icefall and could see the snowline was at 1000 m. This leaves the glacier with an AAR of 0.45, too low to sustain equilibrium, retreat will continue. In 2015 and 2016 the snowline rose to over 1400 m by the end of the melt season, indicating two years of large mass loss, which will drive further retreat. The higher snow line elevation has been observed across the icefield Pelto et al (2013).

Transient snow line in Early Sept. of 2015 and 2016. The snow line is at the top of the icefalls, at 1400-1450 m.

2005 Google Earth Image, red line is 2005 margin, yellow line is 2013.

2005 Google Earth Image, red line is 1984 margin, yellow line is 2005.

Herbert Glacier Terminus in 2012

World Glacier Monitoring Service 30th Anniversary

On September 8, 2016May 2, 2024 By mspeltoIn climate change glacier retreat, glacier climate change, Glacier Observations

The numbers on the left y-axis depict quantities of glacial mass loss from the WGMS and sea level rise, and the suns across the horizon contain numbers that represent the global increase in temperature, coinciding with the timeline on the lower x-axis From Jill Pelto

The World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) celebrated 30 years of achievement last week. I have had the privilege of being the United States representative to the WGMS and was an invited speaker for the Jubilee held in Zurich, Switzerland along with Matthias Huss, Wilfried Haeberli, Liss Marie Andreassen and Irene Kopelman. This post examines the important role that WGMS has and continues to serve under the leadership of Michael Zemp. The organization has been compiling, homogenizing and publishing data on glacier fluctuations and mass balance primarily from 1986-2013. WGMS remains the leading organization for the collection, storage and dissemination of information on the fluctuations of alpine glaciers. The resulting standardized collection of alpine glacier data that is archived by WGMS, is also leading to analysis efforts that otherwise would be hampered by limited data and lack of homogeneity to the data. Glaciers are recognized as one of the best climate indicators. Mass balance data is the best parameter to measure on glaciers for identifying climate change, because of its annual resolution. The core of the WGMS data set has been frontal variations, which indicate longer response to climate as well as dynamic changes. The key data set today provided by WGMS are the reference glaciers.

This set of glaciers has a 30-year continuous record of annual mass balance measured in the field, and each glacier also has geodetic verification. This mass balance data set is featured on the Global Climate Dashboard at NOAA. I report the mass balance of two reference glaciers Lemon Creek Glacier in Alaska and Columbia Glacier in Washington. Today the field based work is being increasingly supplemented and supplanted by remote sensing methods. This data sets indicates a period of sustained mass balance loss, and glacier retreat that Zemp et al (2015) using WGMS data noted as historically unprecedented. The most recent compilation publication is the Global Glacier Change Bulletin.

This data set is of particular value during this period of climate change and is already chronicling the disapperance of a number of glaciers in the data set. Glacier loss is not a process that has been well documented. The WGMS data set can be enriched by more data from expanding monitoring, reporting data from archives and simply adding the submission of data as a step in the research process for those monitoring alpine glaciers. The video of my presentation looking at 33 consecutive years of field work and sharing this data after compilation with the WGMS is below. The slides below are from the Jubilee presentations.

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West Hongu Glacier Retreat-Ablation Extending into January, Nepal

On September 6, 2016May 2, 2024 By mspeltoIn Himalaya glacier retreat

Landsat comparison of West Hongu Glacier snowline, purple dots from October 2015 to January 2016. The red arrow indicates the 1993 active terminus location and the yellow arrow the 2015 active terminus location.

West Hongu Glacier is a small glacier in the Dudh Khosi Basin of Nepal. The glacier drains the east side of Ama Dablam Peak. Shea et al (2015) noted that glaciers in the Dudh Khosi Basin of Nepal lost 16% of total volume and 20% of area from 1961-2007. Shea et al (2015), in an ICIMOD project, modeled future changes in glaciers with various climate scenarios, finding a minimum projected volume change by 2050 of −26 % and maximum of −70 %. This glacier is a short distance from Mera Glacier where mass balance is measured. Both are summer accumulation type glaciers with 80% of annual precipitation occurring during the summer monsoon season. Salerno et al (2015) found that the main and most significant increase in temperature is concentrated outside of the monsoon period, leading to more ablation favoured during winter and spring months, and year around close to the glacier terminus. The lake at the end of the glacier is unnamed and not listed as one of 20 lakes recorded as potentially unstable and warranting further investigation in Nepal (Ives et al., 2010). ICIMOD has continued to inventory and assess the hazards from glacier lakes and their capacity to induce outburst floods. ICIMOD notes the area of the lake is 0.366 square kilometers.

Here we examine the snowline from fall into winter in 2015/16. Above is the comparison indicating the rise of the snowline from October into January. This has been a common occurrence in recent years, indicating that ablation though limited, continues in the post-monsoon into the mid-winter period. The snowline rises from 5550-5600 m in October to 5650-5700 m in January. Besides ongoing ablation into January, the high snowline illustrates the lack of significant accumulation at any elevation on the glacier in the post Monsoon period extending into January. The snowline remained high on Jan.20, 2016, but the image has considerable cloud cover. This tendency has been noted at Nup La-West Rongbuk Glacier, on the Nepal-China border, Chutanjima Glacier, China and Lhonak Glacier, Sikkim.

Below the active ice terminus change from 1993-2013 is noted. The active ice ended on the shore of the lake in 1993, red arrow. By 2013 the active ice has retreated 500 m from the lake, yellow arrow. There is still debris covered stagnant ice in this zone. The inactive ice is dissected by significant stream channels that cannot develop in an area of active ice. Some of the stream channels have cut to the base of the glacier.

Comparison of active terminus location from 1993-2013 in Landsat images. The red arrow indicates the 1993 active terminus location and the yellow arrow the 2015 active terminus location.

Terminus of West Hongu Glacier inn 2013. Yellow arrows indicate the stream channels cutting through the debris covered inactive ice.Map below indicates glacier ending in the lake.

Moulins: Clarifying Impacts on Glacier Velocity

On September 1, 2016September 2, 2016 By mspeltoIn glacier climate change, Glacier Observations, Greenland glacier retreat

In the last week I have read three separate articles referring to glacier moulins as lubricating the bed of a glacier resulting in overall velocity increase, for example EOS (Aug. 2016), this is not generally accurate. Having spent considerable time observing moulins and reviewing some excellent studies that indicate their impact, it is worth noting again a more complete picture of the role moulins play. This is a role that warrants considerable further examination. In 2008 and 2011 I wrote a piece indicating why this a generalization that is only sometimes accurate. The key to increasing glacier velocity is high basal water pressure, not simply lots of meltwater. Think of your car, if you have low oil pressure that is an issue for efficient running. If you have high oil pressure that is ideal. If you have high oil pressure and you add more oil that does not further lubricate the engine. Delivering more water to the base of a glacier that already has lots of meltwater drainage will not typically lead to a significant acceleration. A number of studies since 2008 have better illustrated this principle as it applies to ice sheets.

Ahlstrøm et al (2013) examined 17 Greenland glaciers and noted a pattern, “Common to all the observed glacier velocity records is a pronounced seasonal variation, with an early melt season maximum generally followed by a rapid mid-melt season deceleration”. This indicates the Greenland glaciers are more like a typical alpine glacier and are susceptible to the forces that tend to cause alpine glaciers to experience peak flow during spring and early summer. Those forces are the delivery of meltwater to the base of the glacier, when a basal conduit system is poorly developed. This leads to high basal water pressure, which enhances sliding. As the conduit system develops/evolves the basal water pressure declines as does basal sliding, even with more meltwater runoff.

This is what has been reported to be the case by Sundal et al (2011) in Greenland. They found a similar early season velocity in all years, with a reduced velocity late in summer during the warmest years. This suggested that a more efficient melt drainage system had developed, reducing basal water pressure for a longer period of time. The meltwater lubrication mechanism is real, but as observed is limited both in time and area impacted. It is likely that, as on alpine glaciers, the seasonal speedup is offset by a greater slowdown late in the melt season. Most observed acceleration due to high meltwater input has been on the order of several weeks, leading to a 10-20% flow increase for that period.

Moon et al (2014) examined 55 Greenland glaciers and found three distinct seasonal velocity patterns. Type 1 behavior is characterized by speedup between late spring and early summer with speed remaining high until late winter or early spring, with the principal sensitivity being to terminus conditions and position. Type 2 behavior has stable velocity from late summer through spring, with a strong early summer speedup as runoff increases and midsummer slowing, as the glacier develops an efficient drainage system. Type 3 behavior has a mid-summer slowdown leading to a pronounced late summer minimum during the period of maximum runoff. Velocity than rebounds over the winter. The common behavior is then a slowdown during periods of peak runoff and moulin drainage.

Anderson et al (2011) noted that changes in velocity due to a 45% change in meltwater input were small 4-5% on Helheim Glacier.

Clason et al (2015) modelled development of moulins and their ability to deliver the water to the bed of Leverett Glacier. This study illustrates the level of details that is being examined to better model meltwater routing, which will inform flow models as noted by EOS (2015).

Moulins increase meltwater flow to a glacier bed. In areas where significant surface melt occurs, this tends to lead to an early melt season increase in basal water pressure and then velocity. This is typically followed by a mid/late melt season deceleration with continued meltwater drainage through moulins. The lubrication is hence, restricted in time, and if followed by a deceleration, does not necessarily lead to an increase in the overall glacier velocity. Certainly in some cases moulins will increase overall velocity and in others not.

Lednikovoye Glaciers, Novaya Zemlya 1999-2016 retreat

On August 29, 2016May 2, 2024 By mspeltoIn glacier climate change, Novaya Zemlya glacier retreat, russia glacier retreat

Comparison of glaciers terminating in Lednikovoye Lake in central Svalbard in 2000 and 2016. Red arrow is the 2000 terminus location and yellow arrows the 2016 terminus location.

Lednikovoye Lake in central Novaya Zemlya has four glaciers terminating in it. Here we examine the two unnamed glaciers that discharge into the northwest portion of the lake. The glaciers are retreating like all tidewater glaciers in northern Novaya Zemlya, though they are not specifically tidewater (LEGOS, 2006). LEGOS (2006) identified a 2.7 square kilometer reduction in area of the two glaciers from 1990-2000. Carr et al (2014) identified an average retreat rate of 52 meters/year for tidewater glaciers on Novaya Zemlya from 1992 to 2010 and 5 meters/year for land terminating glaciers.Here we use Landsat images to examine changes from 1999 to 2016.

In 1999 and 2000 the western Lednikovoye Glacier ended on an island, the eastern Lednikovoye Glacier extended past the exit of a glacier filled valley entering from the east. By 2016 the western terminus had retreated 800 meters from the newly developed island. The eastern terminus had retreated a similar amount now ending near the center of the valley entering on the east. The glacier in that eastern valley has retreated 600 m from 1999 to 2016. The snowline in 2000 and 2016 is at ~500 m, with a significant remaining accumulation zone. There is limited upglacier thinning suggesting that retreat will not become rapid. The reduced rate of retreat of the Lednikovoye Glacier’s versus tidewater glacier of Novaya Zemlya suggests the importance of both sea ice reduction and sea surface temperature increase to the retreat rate of the latter such as Krayniy Glacier, Tasija Glacier and Chernysheva Glacier.

Kronotsky Peninsula, Kamchatka Glacier Fragmentation/Retreat

On August 25, 2016May 2, 2024 By mspeltoIn climate change glacier retreat, russia glacier retreat

The Kronotsky Peninsula is on the east coast of Kamchatka and has an small concentration of alpine glaciers. A recent paper by Lynch et al (2016) indicates a significant recession during the start of the 21st century in Kamchatka. They note a 24% loss in area, leading to fragmentation and an increase in the number of ice masses that could be considered glaciers. Lynch et al (2016) further note that the primary climate change has been a recent significant rise in summer temperature. It is interesting how few and small the glaciers are in Kamchatka versus similar latitudes of Alaska.

The red arrows indicate the 2000 terminus position. Purple arrows indicate areas of bedrock expansion within the 2000 glacier region. Google Earth image is same 2013 image.

A comparison of 2000 and 2015 Landsat images indicates the retreat of several glaciers and the expansion of bedrock glaciers within the previous accumulation zone areas. The snowcovered area in Sept. of 2000 is 35%, in Sept. 2015 the snowcovered area is 15%. Summer temperature anomalies for Kamchatka have been high in June and July of 2016 (NOAA, 2016). The result is that in August, 2016 despite the cloud cover it is evident that snowcover is less than 10% with time left in the melt season. September is one of the least cloudy months and if better imagery becomes available I will update this image here. The elevation of the glaciers is 2400-3700 m, relatively high. The termini of all three glaciers have retreated 200-400 m, which given the short time span and small size of the glaciers is significant. The lack of retained snowcover in recent years indicates that these glaciers lack a persistent accumulation zone and cannot survive (Pelto, 2010). A closeup of the terminus of the glaciers indicate all have low slopes, limited crevassing, and are poised more further retreat. Of the three termini the southern one indicates a recsssional moraine set (R). The western glacier concentric crevasses that indicate subsidence of terminus area (C). The northern glacier has significant supraglacial stream channels that took multiple years to develop, indicative of limited development (B).

2016 Landsat image of Krontosky Peninsula Glaciers

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Looking Inside a Glacier

On August 22, 2016 By mspeltoIn glacier climate change, Glacier Observations, North Cascade Glaciers

Here we provide a visual look inside a glacier in the North Cascades of Washington. Glaciers are not all the same, but the key internal ingredients in summer typically are in varied ratios: ice, meltwater, sediment and biologic material. In this case there are torrents of water pouring through the interior of the glacier, generated at the surface the day we are filming. We do measure the discharge and velocity of these streams. Once they drain englacially they are much slower as there are numerous plunge pools. There are also plenty of water filled crevasses. Some of the streams have considerable sediment in them, usually large clasts given the high velocity and low bed friction. In this case there are also a great many ice worms clinging to the walls of a water filled crevasse, and the walls of the stream channels. All of this water than merges by the terminus into an outlet stream. This again we measure. On the glacier we are measuring melt and at the end of the glacier runoff provides an independent measure of this melt as well. The water then heads downstream supplying many types of fish enroute to the ocean.

The last three years have led to considerable mass loss of glaciers in the area. This means less snowcover at the surface, which leaves less room for the ice worms to live and forces them into the meltwater regions. This also leads to more supraglacial stream channels, which develop and deepen. In many cases the streams deepen to the point that they become englacial. The increased ice area also should stress glacier ice worms as they live on algae, which resides largely in snow, which is less extensive and persistent in recent summers.

Glaciers in BAMS State of Climate 2015

On August 2, 2016May 2, 2024 By mspeltoIn climate change glacier retreat, glacier climate change, Glacier Observations

Decrease in Glacier Mass Balance uses measurements from 1980-2014 of the average mass balance for a group of North Cascade, WA glaciers. Mass balance is the annual budget for the glaciers: total snow accumulation minus total snow ablation. Not only are mass balances consistently negative, they are also continually decreasing. Glaciers have been one of the key and most iconic examples of the impact of global warming.

BAMS State of Climate 2015 asked me about featuring some of the glacier images for the cover, and I countered with a suggestion to utilize one of a series of paintings by Jill Pelto that illustrate the impact of climate change magnifying the impact of the data. Below are sections of this years report that focus on glaciers.

Glaciers and ice caps (outside Greenland)

M. Sharp, G. Wolken, L.M Andreassen, A. Arendt, D. Burgess, J.G. Cogley, L. Copland, J. Kohler, S. O’Neel, M. Pelto, L.Thompson, and B. Wouters

Among the seven glaciers for which 2014-2015 annual mass balance have been reported, the mass balances of glaciers in Alaska and Svalbard (three each) were negative, while the balance for Engabreen Glacier in Norway was positive. The pattern of negative balances in Alaska and Svalbard is also captured in time series of regional total stored water estimates, derived using GRACE satellite gravimetry, which are a proxy for regional total mass balance (ΔM) for the heavily glacierized regions of the Arctic (Figure 3). Measurements of ΔM in 2014-2015 for all the glaciers and ice caps in Arctic Canada and the Russian Arctic also show a negative mass balance year. The GRACE-derived time series clearly show a continuation of negative trends in ΔM for all measured regions in the Arctic. These measurements of mass balance and ΔM are consistent with anomalously warm (up to +1.5ºC) summer air temperatures over Alaska, Arctic Canada, the Russian Arctic, and Svalbard in 2015, and anomalously cool temperatures in northern Scandinavia, particularly in early summer (up to -2ºC). The warmer temperatures led to higher snowlines in the aforementioned regions as seen in images below.

Baffin Island Ice Cap near Clephane Bay indicate limited snowpack in 2015

Frostisen Ice Cap, Svalbard with limited 2015 snowpack.

Alpine Glaciers

M.Pelto

Preliminary data for 2015 from 16 nations with more than one reporting glacier from Argentina, Austria, Canada, Chile, Italy, Kyrgyzstan, Norway, Switzerland, and United States indicate that 2015 will be the 32nd consecutive year of negative annual balances with a mean loss of -1169 mm for 33 reporting reference glaciers and -1481 mm for all 59 reporting glaciers. The number of reporting reference glaciers is 90% of the total whereas only 50% of all glaciers that will report have submitted data thusfar. The 2015 mass balance will likely be comparable to 2003, the most negative year at -1268 mm for reference glaciers and -1198 mm for all glaciers.

The cumulative mass balance loss from 1980-2015 is 18.8 m, the equivalent of cutting a 20.5 m thick slice off the top of the average glacier (Figure 1). The trend is remarkably consistent from region to region (WGMS, 2015). The decadal mean annual mass balance was -261 mm in the 1980’s, -386 mm in the 1990’s, –727 mm for 2000’s and -818 mm from 2010-2015. The declining mass balance trend during a period of retreat indicates alpine glaciers are not approaching equilibrium and retreat will continue to be the dominant terminus response (Zemp et al., 2015). The recent rapid retreat and prolonged negative balances has led to many glaciers disappearing and others fragmenting (Pelto, 2010; Carturan et al, 2015).

In South America seven glaciers in Columbia, Argentina and Chile reported mass balance. All seven glaciers had losses greater than 1200 mm, with a mean of -2200 mm. These Andes glaciers span 58 degrees of latitude.

In the European Alps, mass balance has been reported for 14 glaciers from Austria, France, Italy and Switzerland. All 14 had negative balances exceeding 1000 mm, with a mean of -1865 mm. This is an exceptionally negative mass balance rivaling 2003 when average losses exceeded -2000 mm.

In Norway mass balance was reported for six glaciers in 2015, all six were positive with a mean of 780 mm. This is the only region that had a positive balance for the year. In Svalbard six glaciers reported mass balances, with all six having a negative mass balance averaging -675 mm.

In Alberta, British Columbia, Washington and Alaska mass balance data from 17 glaciers was reported with a mean loss of -2590 mm, with all 17 being negative. This is the most negative mass balance for the region during the period of record. From Alaska south through British Columbia to Washington the accumulation season temperature was exceptional with the mean for November-April being the highest observed.

In the high mountains of central Asia six glaciers from Russia, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan reported data, all were negative with a mean of -660 mm.

Columbia Glacier having lost nearly all of its snowcover by early August had its most negative mass balance of any years since measurements began in 1984

Thirty-third Annual North Cascade Glacier Climate Project Field Season Underway

On July 31, 2016May 2, 2024 By mspeltoIn climate change glacier retreat, glacier climate change, Glacier Observations, glaciers salmon, North Cascade Glaciers4 Comments

Base Map of the region showing main study glaciers, produced by Ben Pelto.

From President Reagan to President Obama each August since 1984 I have headed to the North Cascade Range of Washington to measure the response of glaciers to climate change. Specifically we will measure the mass balance of nine glaciers, runoff from three glaciers and map the terminus change on 12 glaciers. The data is reported to the World Glacier Monitoring Service. Three glaciers that we have monitored annually have disappeared since 1984.

In 2016 for Mount Baker, Washington the freezing level from January-April was not as high as the record from 2015, but still was 400 m above the long term mean. The snowpack on June 1st was three weeks behind last year’s record melt, but still three to four weeks of head of normal. July has been exceptionally cool reducing this gap. With all the snow measurement stations losing snowcover by July 1, the gap is uncertain until we arrive on the glaciers. This will not be a good year, but will be a significant improvement over last year, likely more in the 2012 or 2013 category. Each location is accessed by backpacking in and camping in tents.

We will first travel north to Mount Baker and the Easton Glacier, we will be joined by Oliver Lazenby, Point Roberts Press. We will then circle to the north side where I expect we will be joined by Jezra Beaulieu and Oliver Grah, Nooksack Indian Tribe. Jen Lennon from the Sauk-Suiattle Tribe and Pete Durr, Mount Baker Ski Patrol are also planning to join us here. When we head into Columbia Glacier Taryn Black from U of Washington will join us. The field team consists of Mauri Pelto, 33^rd year, Jill Pelto, UMaine for the 8^th year, Megan Pelto, 2^nd year, and Andrew Hollyday, Middlebury College. Tom Hammond, 13^th year will join us for a selected period.

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Aug.   1: Hike into Easton Glacier.
Aug.   2: Easton Glacier
Aug.   3: Easton Glacier
Aug. 4: Hike Out Easton Glacier, Hike in Ptarmigan Ridge
Aug.   5: Sholes Glacier
Aug.   6: Rainbow Glacier
Aug.   7: Sholes Glacier and/or Rainbow Glacier
Aug. 8: Hike out and into Lower Curtis Glacier
Aug. 9: Lower Curtis Glacier
Aug. 10: Hike out Lower Curtis Glacier- Hike in Blanca Lake Mail Pickup Maple Falls, WA 98266
Aug. 11: Hike in Columbia Glacier
Aug. 12: Columbia Glacier
Aug. 13: Hike out Columbia Glacier; Hike in Mount Daniels
Aug. 14: Daniels and Lynch Glacier
Aug. 15: Ice Worm Glacier
Aug. 16: Ice Worm Glacier, Hike out Mount Daniels-Hike out

Sjögren Glacier Fast Flow, Fast Retreat, Antarctica

On July 21, 2016May 2, 2024 By mspeltoIn Antarctic Glacier retreat, climate change glacier retreat, glacier climate change1 Comment

Sjögren Glacier comparison in Landsat images from 2001 and 2016, red dots indicate terminus position, Point A, B, C and D are in fixed locations.

Sjögren Glacier flows east from the northern Antarctic Peninsula and prior to the 1980’s was a principal feeder glacier to Prince Gustav Ice Shelf. This 1600 square kilometer ice shelf disintegrated in the mid-1990’s and was gone in 1995 (Cook and Vaughan, 2010). Scambos et al (2014) noted a widespread thinning and retreat of Northern Antarctic Peninsula Glaciers with the greatest changes where ice shelf collapse had occurred, Sjögren Glacier being one of the locations. Scambos et al (2004) first documented the acceleration of glaciers that fed an ice shelf after ice shelf loss in the Larsen B region. A new paper by Seehaus et al (2016) focuses on long term velocity change at Sjögren Glacier as it continues to retreat. This study illustrates the acceleration is long lived with a peak velocity of 2.8 m/day in 2007 declining to 1.4 m/day in 2014, compared to a 1996 velocity of 0.7 m/day, which was likely already higher than the velocity in years prior to ice shelf breakup. Here we examine Landsat images from 1990, 2001, 2005 and 2016 to illustrate changes in terminus position of Sjögren Glacier

In the 1990 Landsat image Sjögren Glacier feed directly into the Prince Gustav ice Shelf which then By 1993 Seehaus et al (2016) note that Sjögren Glacier had retreated to the mouth of Sjögren Inlet in 1993, this is marked Point A on Landsat Images. By 2001 the glacier had retreated to Point B, a distance of 7 km. Between 2001 and 2005 Sjögren Glacier retreat led to a separation from Boydell Glacier at Point C. In 2016 Sjögren Glacier had retreated 10-11 km from the 2001 location, and 4.5 km from Point C up the expanding fjord. The production of icebergs remains heavy and the inlet does not narrow for another 6 km from the front. Seehaus et al (2016) Figure 1 indicates that the area of high velocity over 1 m/day extends 1 km upglacier, with somewhat of a slowdown at 6 km behind the front. The high velocity and limited change in fjord width in the lower 6 km indicates there is not a new pinning point to slow retreat appreciably in this stretch. Figure 1 also illustrates the retreat from 1993-2014. The pattern of ice shelf loss and glacier retreat after loss has also played out at Jones Ice Shelf and Rohss Bay.

1990 Landsat Image of Sjogren Glacier and Prince Gustav Ice Shelf, terminus marked by red dots

2005 Landsat Image of Sjogren Glacier, terminus marked by red dots

Chaupi Orko Glaciers, Bolivia Extensive Recession

On July 18, 2016May 2, 2024 By mspeltoIn bolivia glacier retreat, climate change glacier retreat

Landsat comparison of the Chaupi Orko Glaciers from 1988, 1999 and 2015. Red arrows indicate 1988 terminus and yellow arrows the 2015 terminus location.

Chaupi Orko is a 6044 m Andean peak in the Cordillera Apolobamba on the Peru-Bolivia border with glaciers radiating from it summit. Here we examine a pair of glaciers on the southern side of the mountain that drain into Laguna Suches, which is split by the Bolivia-Peru border. Laguna Suches is most known for placer gold mining. Glaciers in Bolivia have been experiencing substantial retreat during the last 40 years, such as at Nevada Cololo. The glaciers of the Apolobamba have lost 48% of their area from 1975-2006 (Hoffmann, 2012). Hoffmann and Weggenmann (2012) observed both the extensive retreat, new lake formation, and the potential problem of glacier lake outbursts in this region, which is part of the Apolobamba Integrated Natural Management Area. In a continuation of these studies an excellent study in review by Cook et al (2016) indicates a 43% decline in glacier area in the Cordillera Apolobamba from 1986 to 2014. They identified a total of 25 lakes with some risk of GLOF, though historic occurrences to date in the area are few. They further found an decrease in proglacial lakes in contact with glaciers during this period. The glaciers here are summer accumulation type with the ablation occurring during the dry season from May-October .

In 1988 the southwest Chaupi Orko Glacier (W), red arrow, does not have a proglacial lake at its terminus. The southern Chuapi Orko Glacier (S) ends adjacent to a small lake east of the terminus, red arrow. By 1999 a small proglacial lake has formed at the terminus of the southwest Chaupi Orko Glacier. The southern Chaupi Orko Glacier has receded 350 m. By 2015 the southwest Chaupi Orko Glacier has retreated to the yellow arrow, with the proglacial lake having expanded to an area of 0.35-0.4 square kilometers. Retreat of the west glacier has ranged from 500 to 800 m. The southern Chaupi Orko Glacier has retreated 600 m exposing two new small proglacial lakes that it has since largely retreated from. The lakes are narrow and too small to be a Glacier lake outburst flood (GLOF) threat. This particular basin does not pose a GLOF threat with no substantial lake below the south glacier and only the small, apparently shallow lake below the west glacier. A small island in the midst of the lake, suggests lake not very deep. The west glacier has a calving face enhancing retreat (IC).Neither glacier indicates significant thinning higher on the glacier, suggests limited melting. This is a region of significant ablation via sublimation vs melting, which is not as efficient a process for mass loss and is enhanced during La Nina periods (Vuille et al, 2008). The reduction of glacier area does lead to declines in glacier runoff, which will have a more widespread impact.

Small island amidst proglacial lake from the west glacier, also ice cliff noted.

Google Earth image of the Chaupi Orco region.

Rainbow Glacier Not Fading Away, Glacier National Park

On July 12, 2016November 20, 2025 By mspeltoIn glacier climate change, Glacier Observations1 Comment

Rainbow Glacier is the third largest of the 25 remaining glaciers in Glacier National Park occupying an east facing cirque between 2650 m and 2330 m. The glacier drains into Quartz Lake a key lake for bull trout in GNP, which are threatened by both invasive lake trout and climate change (Jones et al, 2013). The National Park Serice and USGS have been established a glacier monitoring program that focuses on repeat photography, mass balance observations on Sperry Glacier and area change. GNP has lost the majority of the 150 glaciers that existed. The USGS reports that Rainbow Glacier had an area of 1.28 square kilometers in 1966 declining to 1.16 square kilometers in 2005, a 9.3% reduction. Has this slow rate of retreat continued? Here we examine Google Earth imagery from 1990-2013 and imagery taken by John Scurlock compiled by Glaciers of the American West at Portland State University,

In the Google Earth images from 1990, 2003 and 2013 the margin of the glacier in 1990 is in red and from 2003 is in orange. The margin of the glacier from 1990 to 2003 indicates modest recession averaging 25-30 m along the glacier front. This is part of the 9.3 % area loss noted by the USGS. In 2013 there is too much snowcover to identify the glacier boundary, glacier ice is exposed providing a minimum extent at the green dots. A comparison of 1990, 2005 and 2009 images, the latter from John Scurlock indicates the two primary terminus lobes. From 1990 to 2005 the southern lobe retreated 45 m and the northern lobe 25-30 m. There is not a significant change in either lobe from 2005 to 2009. The 2003, 2005 and 2009 imagery does indicate a low percentage of retained snowcover. This is the accumulation area ratio. Persistent low values indicate a glacier that cannot survive. In the case of Rainbow Glacier the accumulation area ratio is sufficient in most years to limit volume losses. In 2015 low snowpack exposed the terminus area,by late August the glacier still had 40% snowcover, indicating a negative mass balance, but not excessively negative. Glacier area updated to 2015 using the Landsat image the area is now between 1.00 and 1.10 square kilometers an approximately 20% area loss in 50 years. It is evident that this is the only late summer area of snow-ice in the watershed and is particularly crucial to the water budget in late summer and early fall. The slow retreat of the glacier is good for the bull trout in the watershed, Rieman et al (2007) indicated the sensitivity of the trout to stream temperatures. Glacier both increase flow and reduce stream temperature late in the summer. This is one glacier in the park that will not disappear by 2030 as has been often forecast. It will join Harrison Glacier in this category, while other glaciers in GNP continue to disappear.