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Scientists with the USGS Benchmark Glacier Project study the process and impacts of glacier change, including sea-level rise, water resources, environmental hazards and ecosystem links. At the core of this research are mass balance measurements at five glaciers in the United States. Since the 1960s, these glaciers have been studied using direct observations of glaciers and meteorology. The project also integrates remotely sensed data to enhance our understanding of how glaciers respond to changes in climate.
Our Research: Our group studies mass change at five glaciers (Gulkana, Lemon Creek, South Cascade, Sperry, Wolverine) in North America using field and remote sensing techniques. To do so, we measure snow accumulation and snow and ice melt at specific locations on the glaciers, then extrapolate those point observations across the entire glacier surface. We also measure air temperature and precipitation at each site to connect glacier and climate change.
Why this Research is Important: When paired with weather, streamflow and geochemical data, this research helps managers prepare for local, regional, and global impacts of glacier change. With a firm foundation of long-term records, the USGS Glaciology Project continues to broaden its value and impact by using new technologies and expertise.
Objective(s): This project aims to advance the quantitative understanding of glacier-climate interactions from local to regional scales. The current focus is on merging the long-term field records with newer, richer remote sensing data. The team is also working to ensure consistency and comparability between records as well as evaluating methodological sensitivities.
Methods: Glacier mass balance, climate, streamflow, and geochemical data are being collected from five U.S. glaciers. Additionally, remote sensing data from satellites is being used to study and monitor the changes the glaciers have undergone in the past sixty years.
Glaciers and Climate Project
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
Scanned field notebooks from a USGS Benchmark Glacier: South Cascade Glacier, Washington,1957 - 2022
Glacier-Wide Mass Balance and Compiled Data Inputs
Below are publications associated with this project.
U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glacier Project
The U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glacier Project combines decades of direct glaciological data with remote sensing data to advance the quantitative understanding of glacier-climate interactions. The global loss of glaciers, and consequent implications for water resources, sea level rise, and ecosystem function underscores the importance of U.S. Geological Survey glaciology research to facilit
The imminent calving retreat of Taku Glacier
Specialized meltwater biodiversity persists despite widespread deglaciation
Parsing complex terrain controls on mountain glacier response to climate forcing
Explaining mass balance and retreat dichotomies at Taku and Lemon Creek Glaciers, Alaska
Glacier retreat in Glacier National Park, Montana
Reanalysis of the U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glaciers: Long-term insight into climate forcing of glacier mass balance
Glacier recession since the Little Ice Age: Implications for water storage in a Rocky Mountain landscape
Interannual snow accumulation variability on glaciers derived from repeat spatially extensive ground-penetrating radar surveys
Local topography increasingly influences the mass balance of a retreating cirque glacier
Glacierized headwater streams as aquifer recharge corridors, subarctic Alaska
Snow and ice
The Glacier - Climate Connection
The Glacier-Climate Connection geonarrative tells the story of the U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glacier Project, one of the longest running studies of glaciers on Earth.
Below are news stories associated with this project.
- Overview
Scientists with the USGS Benchmark Glacier Project study the process and impacts of glacier change, including sea-level rise, water resources, environmental hazards and ecosystem links. At the core of this research are mass balance measurements at five glaciers in the United States. Since the 1960s, these glaciers have been studied using direct observations of glaciers and meteorology. The project also integrates remotely sensed data to enhance our understanding of how glaciers respond to changes in climate.
Our Research: Our group studies mass change at five glaciers (Gulkana, Lemon Creek, South Cascade, Sperry, Wolverine) in North America using field and remote sensing techniques. To do so, we measure snow accumulation and snow and ice melt at specific locations on the glaciers, then extrapolate those point observations across the entire glacier surface. We also measure air temperature and precipitation at each site to connect glacier and climate change.
Why this Research is Important: When paired with weather, streamflow and geochemical data, this research helps managers prepare for local, regional, and global impacts of glacier change. With a firm foundation of long-term records, the USGS Glaciology Project continues to broaden its value and impact by using new technologies and expertise.
Objective(s): This project aims to advance the quantitative understanding of glacier-climate interactions from local to regional scales. The current focus is on merging the long-term field records with newer, richer remote sensing data. The team is also working to ensure consistency and comparability between records as well as evaluating methodological sensitivities.
Methods: Glacier mass balance, climate, streamflow, and geochemical data are being collected from five U.S. glaciers. Additionally, remote sensing data from satellites is being used to study and monitor the changes the glaciers have undergone in the past sixty years.
- Science
Glaciers and Climate Project
Mountain glaciers are dynamic reservoirs of frozen water closely coupled to ecosystems and climate. Glacier change in North America has major socioeconomic impacts, including global sea level change, tourism disruption, natural hazard risk, fishery effects, and water resource alteration. Understanding and quantifying precise connections between glaciers and climate is critical to decision makers... - Data
Below are data or web applications associated with this project.
Scanned field notebooks from a USGS Benchmark Glacier: South Cascade Glacier, Washington,1957 - 2022
This data release is a collection of data and field notes documenting snow and ice changes on South Cascade Glacier, Washington, USA. The field records relate to glaciological research and reflect evolving interpretations of glacier mass balance, climatology, hydrology, and other glacier-related research conducted at the site between 1957 to 2022 in association with the USGS Benchmark Glacier ProjGlacier-Wide Mass Balance and Compiled Data Inputs
Since the late 1950s, the USGS has maintained a long-term glacier mass-balance program at three North American glaciers. Measurements began on South Cascade Glacier, WA in 1958, expanding to Gulkana and Wolverine glaciers, AK in 1966, and later Sperry Glacier, MT in 2005. The Juneau Icefield Research Program has measured surface mass balance on Lemon Creek and Taku Glacier since the mid-1940s, wit - Publications
Below are publications associated with this project.
Filter Total Items: 38U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glacier Project
The U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glacier Project combines decades of direct glaciological data with remote sensing data to advance the quantitative understanding of glacier-climate interactions. The global loss of glaciers, and consequent implications for water resources, sea level rise, and ecosystem function underscores the importance of U.S. Geological Survey glaciology research to facilit
AuthorsCaitlyn Florentine, Lisa L. MckeonThe imminent calving retreat of Taku Glacier
Along the rugged Southeast Alaska coast, 30 kilometers northeast of the state capital Juneau, a tidewater glacier has largely defied global trends by steadily advancing for most of the past century while most glaciers on Earth retreated. This 55-kilometer-long and nearly 1,500-meter-thick tidewater glacier, named Taku Glacier, or T'aaḵú Ḵwáan Sít'i in the language of the Indigenous Tlingit people,AuthorsChristopher J. McNeil, Jason Amundson, Shad O'Neel, Roman Motyka, Louis C. Sass, Martin Truffer, Jenna Ziemann, Seth CampbellSpecialized meltwater biodiversity persists despite widespread deglaciation
Glaciers are important drivers of environmental heterogeneity and biological diversity across mountain landscapes. Worldwide, glaciers are receding rapidly due to climate change, with important consequences for biodiversity in mountain ecosystems. However, the effects of glacier loss on biodiversity have never been quantified across a mountainous region, primarily due to a lack of adequate data atAuthorsClint C. Muhlfeld, Timothy Joseph Cline, J. Joseph Giersch, Erich Peitzsch, Caitlyn Florentine, Dean Jacobsen, Scott HotalingParsing complex terrain controls on mountain glacier response to climate forcing
Glaciers are a key indicator of changing climate in the high mountain landscape. Glacier variations across a mountain range are ultimately driven by regional climate forcing. However, changes also reflect local, topographically driven processes such as snow avalanching, snow wind-drifting, and radiation shading as well as the initial glacier conditions such as hypsometry and ice thickness. Here weAuthorsCaitlyn Elizabeth Florentine, Joel T. Harper, Daniel B. FagreExplaining 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 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 atAuthorsChristopher J. McNeil, Shad O'Neel, Michael Loso, Mauri Pelto, Louis C. Sass, Emily Baker, Seth CampbellGlacier retreat in Glacier National Park, Montana
Currently, the volume of land ice on Earth is decreasing, driving consequential changes to global sea level and local stream habitat. Glacier retreat in Glacier National Park, Montana, U.S.A., is one example of land ice loss and glacier change. The U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glacier Project conducts glaciological research and collects field measurements across select North American glaciers,AuthorsCaitlyn FlorentineReanalysis of the U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glaciers: Long-term insight into climate forcing of glacier mass balance
Mountain glaciers integrate climate processes to provide an unmatched signal of regional climate forcing. However, extracting the climate signal via intercomparison of regional glacier mass balance records can be problematic when methods for extrapolating and calibrating direct glaciological measurements are mixed or inconsistent. To address this problem, we reanalyzed and compared long-term massAuthorsShad O'Neel, Christopher J. McNeil, Louis C. Sass, Caitlyn Florentine, Emily Baker, Erich Peitzsch, Daniel J McGrath, Andrew G. Fountain, Daniel B. FagreGlacier recession since the Little Ice Age: Implications for water storage in a Rocky Mountain landscape
Glacial ice is a significant influence on local climate, hydrology, vegetation, and wildlife. We mapped a complete set of glacier areas from the Little Ice Age (LIA) using very high-resolution satellite imagery (30-cm) within Glacier National Park, a region that encompasses over 400,000 hectares. We measured glacier change across the park using LIA glacier area as a baseline and used this to estimAuthorsChelsea Mikle, Daniel B. FagreInterannual snow accumulation variability on glaciers derived from repeat spatially extensive ground-penetrating radar surveys
There is significant uncertainty regarding the spatiotemporal distribution of seasonal snow on glaciers, despite being a fundamental component of glacier mass balance. To address this knowledge gap, we collected repeat, spatially extensive high-frequency ground-penetrating radar (GPR) observations on two glaciers in Alaska for five consecutive years. GPR measurements showed steep snow water equivaAuthorsDaniel J McGrath, Louis Sass, Shad O'Neel, Christopher J. McNeil, Salvatore G Candela, Emily Baker, Hans P. MarshallLocal topography increasingly influences the mass balance of a retreating cirque glacier
Local topographically driven processes – such as wind drifting, avalanching, and shading – are known to alter the relationship between the mass balance of small cirque glaciers and regional climate. Yet partitioning such local effects from regional climate influence has proven difficult, creating uncertainty in the climate representativeness of some glaciers. We address this problem for Sperry GlaAuthorsCaitlyn Florentine, Joel T. Harper, Daniel B. Fagre, Johnnie Moore, Erich H. PeitzschGlacierized headwater streams as aquifer recharge corridors, subarctic Alaska
Arctic river discharge has increased in recent decades although sources and mechanisms remain debated. Abundant literature documents permafrost thaw and mountain glacier shrinkage over the past decades. Here we link glacier runoff to aquifer recharge via a losing headwater stream in subarctic Interior Alaska. Field measurements in Jarvis Creek (634 km2), a subbasin of the Tanana and Yukon Rivers,AuthorsAnna K. Lilledahl, Anne Gadeke, Shad O'Neel, T. A. Gatesman, T. A. DouglasSnow and ice
Temperature and precipitation are key determinants of snowpack levels. Therefore, climate change is likely to affect the role of snow and ice in the landscapes and hydrology of the Chugach National Forest region.Downscaled climate projections developed by Scenarios Network for Alaska and Arctic Planning (SNAP) are useful for examining projected changes in snow at relatively fine resolution using aAuthorsJeremy S. Littell, Stephanie A. McAfee, Shad O'Neel, Louis C. Sass, Evan Burgess, Steve Colt, Paul Clark - Web Tools
The Glacier - Climate Connection
The Glacier-Climate Connection geonarrative tells the story of the U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glacier Project, one of the longest running studies of glaciers on Earth.
- News
Below are news stories associated with this project.