Explaining mass balance and retreat dichotomies at Taku and Lemon Creek Glaciers, Alaska
We reanalyzed mass balance records at Taku and Lemon Creek Glaciers to better understand the relative roles of hypsometry, local climate and dynamics as mass balance drivers. Over the 1946–2018 period, the cumulative mass balances diverged. Tidewater Taku Glacier advanced and gained mass at an avera...
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Cambridge University Press
2020
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:cb7f7aaeba1840bc88511a194e7121ce 2023-05-15T16:20:23+02:00 Explaining mass balance and retreat dichotomies at Taku and Lemon Creek Glaciers, Alaska Christopher McNeil Shad O'Neel Michael Loso Mauri Pelto Louis Sass Emily H. Baker Seth Campbell 2020-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2020.22 https://doaj.org/article/cb7f7aaeba1840bc88511a194e7121ce EN eng Cambridge University Press https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143020000222/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2020.22 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/cb7f7aaeba1840bc88511a194e7121ce Journal of Glaciology, Vol 66, Pp 530-542 (2020) Applied glaciology climate change glacier mass balance glacier monitoring mountain glaciers Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 article 2020 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2020.22 2023-03-12T01:30:57Z We reanalyzed mass balance records at Taku and Lemon Creek Glaciers to better understand the relative roles of hypsometry, local climate and dynamics as mass balance drivers. Over the 1946–2018 period, the cumulative mass balances diverged. Tidewater Taku Glacier advanced and gained mass at an average rate of +0.25 ± 0.28 m w.e. a–1, contrasting with retreat and mass loss of −0.60 ± 0.15 m w.e. a−1 at land-terminating Lemon Creek Glacier. The uniform influence of regional climate is demonstrated by strong correlations among annual mass balance and climate data. Regional warming trends forced similar statistically significant decreases in surface mass balance after 1989: −0.83 m w.e. a–1 at Taku Glacier and −0.81 m w.e. a–1 at Lemon Creek Glacier. Divergence in cumulative mass balance arises from differences in glacier hypsometry and local climate. Since 2013 negative mass balance and glacier-wide thinning prevailed at Taku Glacier. These changes initiated terminus retreat, which could increase dramatically if calving begins. The future mass balance trajectory of Taku Glacier hinges on dynamics, likely ending the historic dichotomy between these glaciers. Article in Journal/Newspaper glacier glaciers Journal of Glaciology Tidewater Alaska Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Taku ENVELOPE(-133.854,-133.854,59.633,59.633) Lemon Creek ENVELOPE(177.452,177.452,51.987,51.987) Journal of Glaciology 66 258 530 542 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Applied glaciology climate change glacier mass balance glacier monitoring mountain glaciers Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
spellingShingle |
Applied glaciology climate change glacier mass balance glacier monitoring mountain glaciers Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 Christopher McNeil Shad O'Neel Michael Loso Mauri Pelto Louis Sass Emily H. Baker Seth Campbell Explaining mass balance and retreat dichotomies at Taku and Lemon Creek Glaciers, Alaska |
topic_facet |
Applied glaciology climate change glacier mass balance glacier monitoring mountain glaciers Environmental sciences GE1-350 Meteorology. Climatology QC851-999 |
description |
We reanalyzed mass balance records at Taku and Lemon Creek Glaciers to better understand the relative roles of hypsometry, local climate and dynamics as mass balance drivers. Over the 1946–2018 period, the cumulative mass balances diverged. Tidewater Taku Glacier advanced and gained mass at an average rate of +0.25 ± 0.28 m w.e. a–1, contrasting with retreat and mass loss of −0.60 ± 0.15 m w.e. a−1 at land-terminating Lemon Creek Glacier. The uniform influence of regional climate is demonstrated by strong correlations among annual mass balance and climate data. Regional warming trends forced similar statistically significant decreases in surface mass balance after 1989: −0.83 m w.e. a–1 at Taku Glacier and −0.81 m w.e. a–1 at Lemon Creek Glacier. Divergence in cumulative mass balance arises from differences in glacier hypsometry and local climate. Since 2013 negative mass balance and glacier-wide thinning prevailed at Taku Glacier. These changes initiated terminus retreat, which could increase dramatically if calving begins. The future mass balance trajectory of Taku Glacier hinges on dynamics, likely ending the historic dichotomy between these glaciers. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Christopher McNeil Shad O'Neel Michael Loso Mauri Pelto Louis Sass Emily H. Baker Seth Campbell |
author_facet |
Christopher McNeil Shad O'Neel Michael Loso Mauri Pelto Louis Sass Emily H. Baker Seth Campbell |
author_sort |
Christopher McNeil |
title |
Explaining mass balance and retreat dichotomies at Taku and Lemon Creek Glaciers, Alaska |
title_short |
Explaining mass balance and retreat dichotomies at Taku and Lemon Creek Glaciers, Alaska |
title_full |
Explaining mass balance and retreat dichotomies at Taku and Lemon Creek Glaciers, Alaska |
title_fullStr |
Explaining mass balance and retreat dichotomies at Taku and Lemon Creek Glaciers, Alaska |
title_full_unstemmed |
Explaining mass balance and retreat dichotomies at Taku and Lemon Creek Glaciers, Alaska |
title_sort |
explaining mass balance and retreat dichotomies at taku and lemon creek glaciers, alaska |
publisher |
Cambridge University Press |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2020.22 https://doaj.org/article/cb7f7aaeba1840bc88511a194e7121ce |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-133.854,-133.854,59.633,59.633) ENVELOPE(177.452,177.452,51.987,51.987) |
geographic |
Taku Lemon Creek |
geographic_facet |
Taku Lemon Creek |
genre |
glacier glaciers Journal of Glaciology Tidewater Alaska |
genre_facet |
glacier glaciers Journal of Glaciology Tidewater Alaska |
op_source |
Journal of Glaciology, Vol 66, Pp 530-542 (2020) |
op_relation |
https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0022143020000222/type/journal_article https://doaj.org/toc/0022-1430 https://doaj.org/toc/1727-5652 doi:10.1017/jog.2020.22 0022-1430 1727-5652 https://doaj.org/article/cb7f7aaeba1840bc88511a194e7121ce |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2020.22 |
container_title |
Journal of Glaciology |
container_volume |
66 |
container_issue |
258 |
container_start_page |
530 |
op_container_end_page |
542 |
_version_ |
1766008297626796032 |