Glacier annual balance measurement, prediction, forecasting and climate correlations, North Cascades, Washington 1984?2006

International audience North Cascade glacier annual balance measured on 10 glaciers from 1984?2006 yielded mean annual balance (ba) of ?0.54 m/a, and ?12.38 m cumulatively. This is a significant loss for glaciers that average 30?60 m in thickness, representing 20?40% of their entire volume. Two obse...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Pelto, M. S.
Other Authors: Nichols College Dudley
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2007
Subjects:
[SDU.ENVI]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Continental interfaces
environment
[SDU.OCEAN]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Ocean
Atmosphere
[SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences
Pacific
Cascade Glacier
Lewis Glacier
The Cryosphere
The Cryosphere Discussions
Online Access:https://hal.science/hal-00298520
https://hal.science/hal-00298520/document
https://hal.science/hal-00298520/file/tcd-1-17-2007.pdf
Description
Summary:International audience North Cascade glacier annual balance measured on 10 glaciers from 1984?2006 yielded mean annual balance (ba) of ?0.54 m/a, and ?12.38 m cumulatively. This is a significant loss for glaciers that average 30?60 m in thickness, representing 20?40% of their entire volume. Two observed glaciers, Lewis Glacier and Spider Glacier, no longer exist. The ba of North Cascade glaciers is reliably calculated based on 1 April snowpack water equivalent and ablation season temperature. 1 May forecasting of ba using the Pacific Decadal Oscillation and the Multivariate El Nino Southern Oscillation circulation indices correctly determined the sign of mass balance in 42 of 47 years. Glacier annual balance forecasting is an important step for summer water resource management in glacier runoff dominated stream systems. The forecast for North Cascade glaciers in 2007 is for a negative annual balance.

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