Additional Research Glaciers

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Black Rapids Glacier, Alaska

Black Rapids Glacier is a surge-type glacier which most recently surged in 1936-37 and is currently in its quiescent phase. While many glaciers in Alaska exhibit reoccurring surge behavior, this glacier is of special interest because it is a potential hazard to the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.

USGS studied Black Rapids Glacier, Alaska from 1970 to 1992 with observations of mass balance, ice velocity, glacier surface altitude, and ice thickness. Ten sites on the glacier were monitored from 1972 to 1987, and three sites were monitored from 1988 to 1992.

More recently, study of Black Rapids Glacier has been continued by the University of Alaska.

On November 3, 2002, the M7.9 Denali Fault Earthquake caused several massive avalanches onto Black Rapids Glacier. Three rock falls from the south wall of the Black Rapids Glacier covered about 13 km of the ablation area or about 5% of the total glacier area.

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Columbia Glacier, Alaska

Columbia Glacier is a large (1,100 square kilometers), multi-branched calving glacier in south central Alaska that flows mostly south out of the Chugach Mountains to its tidewater termination in Prince William Sound. Prior to 1980, it had a long history of stability, with a length of 66 kilometers (41 miles), and small, short-lived advances or retreats. From 1957-74, the lower ablation area maintained its altitude within a few meters, which suggests that the glacier was in climatic equilibrium for at least 2 decades. During the early part of the 1980 decade, it began a rapid retreat. By 1995, it was only about 57 kilometers long and by late 2000, about 54 kilometers long with no indication that the retreat would stop soon. Though perhaps triggered by climate fluctuations, this major glacier retreat once initiated, has progressed due to the nature of the calving glacier cycle with little concern for the climate. Ongoing research at Columbia Glacier aims to understand the dynamics of glacier calving, estimate ice thickness, and calculate mass balance of this rapidly changing glacier.

Hubbard Glacier, Alaska

Hubbard Glacier is the largest tidewater glacier on the North American continent. It has been thickening and advancing toward the Gulf of Alaska since it was first mapped by the International Boundary Commission in 1895 (Davidson, 1903). This is in stark contrast with most glaciers, which have thinned and retreated during the last century. This atypical behavior is an important example of the calving glacier cycle in which glacier advance and retreat is controlled more by the mechanics of terminus calving than by climate fluctuations. If Hubbard Glacier continues to advance, it will close the seaward entrance of Russell Fiord and create the largest glacier-dammed lake on the North American continent in historic times as it has done in 1986 and 2002. The Slow Advance of a Calving Glacier: Hubbard Glacier, AK is a summary of growth and advance measurements of Hubbard Glacier as presented at the International Glaciological Society symposium on Fast Glacier Flow held in Yakutat, Alaska, June 10-14, 2002. Hubbard Glacier remains an ongoing study of calving glacier dynamics for the scientific community.

Hubbard Glacier creates dam on Russell Fiord

In 2002 the advancing terminus of Hubbard Glacier created a glacier lake dam which turned Russell Fiord in to a lake for about two and a half months. Rising water in the newly formed lake altered local hydrology and was a threat to nearby communities. During the two and a half months that the channel was dammed, Russell Lake rose 61 feet. In 1986 a similar scenario resulted when the glacier caused dam raised the lake level 84 feet over the course of five months. Erosion from water eventually carved a new outlet channel and restored the fiord to its previous elevation in both cases. In 2002 the rising level of Russell Lake was recorded by a stage recorder installed on June 23, 2002 at Marble Point in Russell Lake (about 4.5 miles south east from the near-closure site). Output from USGS station #15130000 shows the 2002 lake rise and outburst.

Kahiltna and Kennicott Glaciers, Alaska

The National Park Service Inventory and Monitoring Program began quantifying glacier change on Kahiltna Glacier (Denali National Park and Preserve) in 1991 as part of the Long-term Ecological Monitoring (LTEM) program. During the proposal and project development, scientists collaborated with glaciologists from USGS and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. An initial mass-balance measurement site was established near the elevation where annual melt and accumulation are approximately balanced (often called the Equilibrium Line Altitude or ELA). This site and others that have been added over time have been continuously monitored on a seasonal basis for snow accumulation and melt plus surface elevation changes.

Mass-balance measurements on Kennicott Glacier began in 2016 in recognition of the value in adding a comparable, highly visible, and highly visited glacier in the most heavily glaciated national park: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. Now, mass balance monitoring efforts on these two glaciers are currently performed in collaboration between the Central Alaska Network (part of the NPS Inventory & Monitoring Program) and the U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glacier Program.

These two large glaciers have complex geometries and extensive areas at higher elevations. The mass balance processes are different at these high elevations than at those measured by the USGS Benchmark Glacier Project or from those typically measured globally. Collaboration between USGS and NPS glacier research teams aims to broadly improve the monitoring and research on Kahiltna and Kennicott Glaciers, in part by combining the NPS commitment to monitoring these large glaciers with the workflow and skillsets within the USGS Benchmark Glacier Project. Ultimately the goal is to produce annual glacier-wide mass balance estimates that are corrected to the seasonal mass maximum and minimum and calibrated with geodetic, satellite-measured volume change. However, the field-based mass balance point measurements are already enhancing our understanding of glacier processes at higher elevations—which is particularly critical to understand how larger glaciers in the Alaska Region are changing.