Accelerating glacier volume loss on Juneau Icefield driven by hypsometry and melt-accelerating feedbacks.

ABSTRACT: 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 km³ a^-1) from 1770-1979 AD, rising to 3.08-3.72 km³ a^-1 from 1979-2010, and then doubling after 2010 AD, reaching 5.91 ± 0.80 km³ a^-1 (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

SUBMITTER: Davies B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11220083 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature