Variegated Glacier, Alaska, USA: A Century of Surges

• Published in: Journal of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Eisen, Olaf, Harrison, W. D., Raymond, C. F., Echelmeyer, K. A., Bender, G., Gorda, J. D. M.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2005
• Subjects: glacier; Journal of Glaciology; Alaska
• Online Access: https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/10008/; https://epic.awi.de/id/eprint/10008/1/Eis2004d.pdf; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.20503; https://hdl.handle.net/10013/epic.20503.d001

ABSTRACT. A 1995 surge of Variegated Glacier, Alaska, USA, is discussed in the context of its six 20thcenturypredecessors, especially the previous surge in 1982/83 which was studied in detail. The averagetime between surge initiations is 15 years. The 1995 surge was considerably weaker than itspredecessors, having a single phase or at most a very weak second phase. The 1995 surge confirmsthat there is a seasonal cycle, with surge initiation in winter and termination in the first part of the meltseason, and a correlation between weather and both surge termination date and surge extent. Two daysof record high temperature correlated with the termination of the 1995 surge. The most obvious issue isthe absence of a strong second surge phase (as there was in the 1982/83 surge) culminating in a surgeextent more in line with that of the predecessors. This is considered in the light of a simple criterion forsurge initiation and re-initiation which depends upon the evolving basal shear stress.