Changes in Clemenceau Icefield and Chaba Group glaciers, Canada, related to hypsometry, tributary detachment, length–slope and area–aspect relations

• Main Authors: Hester Jiskoot, Colleen J. Curran, Dez L. Tessler, Leslee R. Shenton
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: Canada; glacier*
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.430.6106; http://www.igsoc.org/annals/50/53/A53A101.pdf

ABSTRACT. We compiled a detailed glacier inventory of 176 glaciers in the Clemenceau Icefield Group (CIG) and adjacent Chaba Group (CH), Canada, based on 2001 Landsat 7 and 2000–03 ASTER satellite imagery and Natural Resources Canada digital elevation models. We used this inventory to measure length and mass-balance changes and their possible controls. A classification of glacier hypsometry in the form of a hypsometric index was used to assess the sensitivity of different glacier systems to a unit rise in snowline. The altitude and AAR of possible steady-state ELAs was derived using several methods, and was compared to late-summer snowlines of 2001. We further compared planar glacier area to slopecorrected area, and compared the effects on the shape of the hypsometric curves, on the total glacier area and on the aspect–area distribution. In 2001, CIG had a glaciated area of 271 km 2 and had lost 42 km 2 since the mid-1980s. CH had a total area of 69 km 2 and had lost 28 km 2. Average retreat rates are 14 m a –1 for the period 1850–2001 (n = 39) and 21 m a –1 for 1986/87–2001 (n = 23), indicating accelerated retreat. Larger glaciers and those that experience tributary detachment tend to retreat faster. The difference between planar and slope-corrected glacier areas ranges from 5 % to 20%, with a 6 % increase for the entire CIG/CH region. The area increase does not change the shape of the