Glacial Dynamics

Read a summary and abstract about modeling glacier retreat from the published article: Brinkerhoff, D., B. Tober, M. Daniel, V. Devaux-Chupin, M. Christofferson, J. Holt, C. Larsen, M. Fahnestock, M. G. Loso, K. Timm, R. Mitchell, and M. Truffer. 2024. The demise of the world’s largest piedmont glacier: A probabilistic forecast. The Cryosphere.

Each park-specific page in the NPS Geodiversity Atlas provides basic information on the significant geologic features and processes occurring in the park.

Each park-specific page in the NPS Geodiversity Atlas provides basic information on the significant geologic features and processes occurring in the park.

Read the abstract and get the link to a paper that looks at the dynamics of tidewater glaciers and iceberg habitat: Kaluzienski, L., J. Amundson, J. Womble, A. K. Bliss, and L. Pearson. 2023. Impacts of tidewater glacier advance on iceberg habitat. Annals of Glaciology pp. 1-11.

Sít’ Tlein (Tlingit for “Big Glacier”) is the traditional name for what has recently been called Malaspina Glacier, the largest glacier in Alaska. The piedmont terminal lobe of Sít’ Tlein is protected from the adjacent Pacific Ocean by a narrow, vegetated foreland dotted with proglacial lakes. Ice of the piedmont lobe is largely covered with debris and vegetation. This report presents a new surficial geology map for the foreland and piedmont lobe of Sít’ Tlein and its lakes.

Alaska is one of the most heavily glaciated areas in the world outside of the polar regions. Approximately 23,000 square miles of the state are covered in glaciers—an area nearly the size of West Virginia. Glaciers have shaped much of Alaska’s landscape and continue to influence its lands, waters, and ecosystems. Because of their importance, National Park Service scientists measure glacier change. They found that glaciers are shrinking in area and volume across the state.

Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve is the glacier heavyweight of Alaska. It has the most glaciers of any park (3,121 at last count) and they cover 6,757 square miles of land. That’s 60% of the glacier cover in ALL the U.S. national parks and five times more glacier cover than the next most-glaciated park in Alaska. Three of the 10 largest glaciers in the world (not counting the Greenland and Antarctica icesheets) are in Wrangell-St. Elias.

Read the abstract and link to a published article that describes a new method for measuring changes in glacial extent. Roberts-Pierel, B. M., P. B. Kirchner, J. B. Kilbride, and R. E. Kennedy. 2022. Changes over the last 35 years in Alaska’s glaciated landscape: A novel deep learning approach to mapping glaciers at fine temporal granularity. Remote Sensing 14(18): 4582.

The Southeast Alaska Network recently expanded its existing monitoring program to include previously unstudied areas in the remote “outer coast” of two parks: Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve (see map below). Several vital signs will ultimately be monitored, and in summer 2022 we conducted aerial reconnaissance of the outer coast with the purpose of selecting sites for the closely linked Glacier and Climate vital signs.

How do glaciers impact Alaska's coastal ecosystems? What do glacier changes mean for the future of this ecologically and economically valuable system? Coastal Alaska and British Columbia glaciers are melting faster than almost any other glaciers on Earth. Glaciers are central to many natural processes and economic activities in the region. The information presented here is a product is a result of Alaska Climate Science Center research projects and workshops.