Multi decadal glacier area fluctuations in Pan-Arctic

• Main Authors: Mernild, S. H., Malmros, J. K.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2018
• Subjects: Arctic; Canada; glacier; glacier*; glaciers; Alaska
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/tcd-6-4417-2012; https://tc.copernicus.org/preprints/tc-2012-145/

The shrinking of land-terminating glaciers and ice caps (GIC) has been documented in high-latitude regions, even though repeat observations upon which to base such studies have been limited in space. Here, we present a new record of satellite-derived area changes for 321 land-terminating GIC throughout Pan-Arctic and for the W. Canada and W. US, with focus on the period from mid-1980s to late-2000s/2011 (the last ca. 25 yr). The mean shrinking rate was −0.06±0.01 km 2 yr −1 during a period with climate warming. Most of the observed GIC shrank in area, more so than previously believed: while only 8% advanced. The analysis indicates that the observed GIC have lost an arithmetic average of one-fifth of their area since the mid-1980s (equal to a shrinking rate of ca. −1% yr −1 ), with the highest rate of loss of −40±4% (−1.7 % yr −1 ) in Alaska, and the lowest rate of loss of −12±3% (−0.5 % yr −1 ) in Arctic Russia.