(wileyonlinelibrary.com) DOI:10.1002/hyp.9453 Mass balance loss of Mount Baker, Washington glaciers 1990–2010

• Main Authors: Mauri Pelto, Courtenay Brown
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: KEY WORDS glacier mass balance; North Cascades; accumulation area ratio; balance gradient; Mount Baker; Baker Glacier
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.365.4159; http://www.nichols.edu/departments/glacier/mount baker hyp.9453.pdf

Terminus observations on nine principal Mount Baker glaciers, 1984–2009, indicate retreat ranging from 240 to 520 m, with a mean of 370 m or 14 m a 1. AAR observations on Rainbow, Sholes and Easton Glaciers for 1990–2010 indicate a mean AAR of 0.55 and a steady state AAR of 0.65. A comparison of Ba and AAR on these three glaciers yields a relationship that is used in combination with AAR observations made on all Mount Baker glaciers during 7 years to assess Mount Baker glacier mass balance. Utilizing the AAR–Ba relationship for the three glaciers yields a mean Ba of 0.55 m a 1 for the 1990–2010 period, 0.03 m a 1 higher than the measured mean Ba. The mean Ba based on the AAR–Ba relationship for the entire mountain from 1990 to 2010 is 0.57 m a 1. The product of the mean observed mass balance gradient determined from 11 000 surface mass balance measurements and glacier area in each 100-m elevation band on Mount Baker yields a Ba of 0.50 m a 1 from 1990–2010 for the entire mountain. The median altitude of the three index glaciers is lower than that of all Mount Baker glaciers. Adjusting the balance gradient for this difference yields