Accelerating glacier volume loss on Juneau icefield driven by hypsometry and melt-accelerating feedbacks
Globally, glaciers and icefields contribute significantly to sea level rise. Here we show that ice loss from Juneau Icefield, a plateau icefield in Alaska, accelerated after 2005 AD. Rates of area shrinkage were 5 times faster from 2015–2019 than from 1979–1990. Glacier volume loss remained fairly c...
| Published in: | Nature Communications |
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
2024
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/214398/ https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/214398/1/s41467-024-49269-y.pdf https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49269-y |
| Summary: | Globally, glaciers and icefields contribute significantly to sea level rise. Here we show that ice loss from Juneau Icefield, a plateau icefield in Alaska, accelerated after 2005 AD. Rates of area shrinkage were 5 times faster from 2015–2019 than from 1979–1990. Glacier volume loss remained fairly consistent (0.65–1.01 km<jats:sup>3</jats:sup> a<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup>) from 1770–1979 AD, rising to 3.08–3.72 km<jats:sup>3</jats:sup> a<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> from 1979–2010, and then doubling after 2010 AD, reaching 5.91 ± 0.80 km<jats:sup>3</jats:sup> a<jats:sup>−1</jats:sup> (2010–2020). Thinning has become pervasive across the icefield plateau since 2005, accompanied by glacier recession and fragmentation. Rising equilibrium line altitudes and increasing ablation across the plateau has driven a series of hypsometrically controlled melt-accelerating feedbacks and resulted in the observed acceleration in mass loss. As glacier thinning on the plateau continues, a mass balance-elevation feedback is likely to inhibit future glacier regrowth, potentially pushing glaciers beyond a dynamic tipping point. |
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