Glaciers along the Copper River, Alaska, Controlled by Landslides, Vegetation, Lakes, Rivers (and Climate)
Jeffrey S. KargelRoberto FurfaroMeredith A. BanksLorena V. FischerMartin HoelzleChristian HuggelG. J. LeonardBruce F. MolniaIsabell RoerR. WesselsDavid WolfeLucas O. Bianchi
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Glacial lakes are usual phenomenon in the glacierized basin at high elevation. Glacial Lakes Outburst Floods are becoming a cause of concern for the local inhabitants of these retreating glaciers. Therefore, a detail study of the dynamics of river of moving ice and water is of much importance. The present study aims to investigate the dynamics of the glacier using geospatial tools and remote sensing and to make an inventory and monitoring of the glaciers, glacial lakes and water bodies in Chenab river basins of Himalayan region using Resourcesat 2 LISS 4 images and the digital elevation model for the period of 2014 to 2017. Based on the current inventory, 126 glacial lakes and water bodies and 192 glaciers with water spread area more than 30 ha and 700 ha, respectively are monitored. Apart from this, only 2 glacial lakes and water bodies with water spread area in the range 14 to 18 ha were monitored. And 16 glaciers were monitored in the area of 500 ha and above. Most of the glacier lakes and glaciers move in the south east direction with 26 and 33 in numbers respectively. The substantial increase in the number of glacial lakes in the Himalayan region is the matter of concern and therefore need a proper monitoring. Keywords: Glaciers; Glacier lakes; Chenab River; GIS; India.
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Continental-scale inventories of glaciers are available, but no analogous rock glacier inventories exist. We present the Portland State University Rock Glacier Inventory (n = 10,343) for the contiguous United States, then compare it to an existing inventory of contiguous United States glaciers (n = 853), identifying geographic and climatic factors affecting the spatial distributions observed. At least one rock glacier is identified in each of the 11 westernmost states, but nearly 90% are found in just five; Colorado (n = 3889), Idaho (n = 1723), Montana (n = 1780), Utah (n = 834), and Wyoming (n = 849). Glaciers are concentrated in relatively humid mountain ranges, while rock glaciers are concentrated in relatively arid mountain ranges. Mean glacier area (0.60 ± 0.073 km2) is significantly greater than mean rock glacier area (0.10 ± 0.002 km2), though total glacier area (507.70 km2) is lower than total rock glacier area (1008.91 km2). Glacier and rock glacier areas, as a percent of small watersheds containing them, are modeled using geographically weighted regression. Glacier percent area (R2 = 0.55) is best explained by elevation range and mean fall snowfall, while rock glacier percent area (R2 = 0.42) is best explained by mean spring dewpoint temperature and slope standard deviation. Finally, we compare riparian vegetation along meltwater streams draining glaciers and rock glaciers. Initial 500 m long meltwater stream reaches emanating from a total of 35 pairs of collocated glaciers and rock glaciers were delineated, allowing estimation of riparian vegetation cover and density. Rock glacier meltwater stream riparian vegetation cover (mean cover = 86.2% ± 9.3%) and density (mean NDVI = 0.30 ± 0.02) are significantly greater (p-value < 0.05) than glacier meltwater stream riparian vegetation cover (mean cover = 64.5% ± 10.9%) and density (mean NDVI = 0.13 ± 0.01). This study shows that while the spatial distributions of glaciers and rock glaciers are both generally influenced by a combination of geographic and climatic variables, the specific forcings and local magnitudes are distinct for each cryospheric feature type, and processes inherent to rock glacier cryospheric meltwater sourcing positively influence first-order meltwater stream vegetation patterns.
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Abstract The Pacific Northwest is the most highly glacierized region in the conterminous United States (858 glaciers; 466 km 2 ). These glaciers have displayed ubiquitous patterns of retreat since the 1980s mostly in response to warming air temperatures. Glacier melt provides water for downstream uses including agricultural water supply, hydroelectric power generation, and for ecological systems adapted to cold reliable streamflow. While changes in glacier area have been studied within the region over an extended period of time, the hydrologic consequences of these changes are not well defined. We applied a high‐resolution glacio‐hydrological model to predict glacier mass balance, glacier area, and river discharge for the period 1960–2099. Six river basins across the region were modeled to characterize the regional hydrological response to glacier change. Using these results, we generalized past and future glacier area change and discharge across the entire Pacific Northwest using a k‐means cluster analysis. Results show that the rate of regional glacier recession will increase, but the runoff from glacier melt and its relative contribution to streamflow display both positive and negative trends. In high‐elevation river basins enhanced glacier melt will buffer strong declines in seasonal snowpack and decreased late summer streamflow, before the glaciers become too small to support streamflow at historic levels later in the 21st century. Conversely, in lower‐elevation basins, smaller snowpack and the shrinkage of small glaciers result in continued reductions in summer streamflow.
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