Documenting 20th and 21st century glacier change and landscape evolution with maps and land, aerial, and space-based geospatial imagery in Alaska’s Kenai Mountains
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55779/ng2118Keywords:
data fusion, geospatial imagery, glacier change, Kenai MountainsAbstract
Data fusion and analysis of maps and remote sensing data collected from different spatial perspectives (ground, air, and space) at different times from the early 20th century to the present using different sensors were used to answer questions about glacier behavior and rapidly changing landscapes of Alaska’s southern Kenai Mountains. Expeditions to three fiords of the southern Kenai Mountains were conducted during the summers of 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2021. Each expedition used repeat photography to document glacier behavior and change, and landscape evolution at six Kenai Mountains glaciers, most located within Kenai Fjords National Park. Bear Glacier, Aialik Glacier, Pedersen Glacier, Holgate Glacier, Little Holgate Glacier, and Northwestern Glacier were studied and at a minimum, their terminus positions were determined for the following dates: 1909, 1950, 1961, 1973, 1990, 2004-2006, and 2021. Each glacier displayed unique asynchronous behavior. Since 1909, all displayed long-term terminus retreat. However, the timing for each glacier was unique. In 2021, Holgate Glacier was advancing, while the other five glaciers were retreating.
Metrics
References
Adalgeirsdóttir G (1997). Surface elevation and volume changes on the Harding Icefield, southcentral Alaska. M.S. Thesis. University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, Alaska.
Adalgeirsdóttir G, Echelmeyer KA, Harrison WD (1998). Elevation and volume changes on the Harding Icefield, Alaska. Journal of Glaciology 44(148):570-582. https://doi.org/10.3189/S0022143000002082
Arendt A (2006). Volume changes of Alaska glaciers: contributions to rising sea level and links to changing climate. Thesis. University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska.
Arendt A, Luthcke S, Gardner A, O’Neel S, Hill D, Moholdt G, Abdalati W (2013). Analysis of a GRACE global mascon solution for Gulf of Alaska glaciers. Journal of Glaciology 59(2017):913-924. https://doi.org/10.3189/2013JoG12J197
Barclay DJ, Calkin PE, Wiles GC (1999). A 1,119-year tree-ring-width chronology from western Prince William Sound, southern Alaska. The Holocene 9(1):79-84. https://doi.org/10.1191/095968399672825976
Boucher T, Lindsay C, Miller AE (2009). From ice to alder: characterizing a half half-century of vegetation change in Kenai Fjords National Park. Southwest Alaska Network Biennial Long-term Monitoring Symposium, Seward, AK.
Catton T (1995). Land reborn: A history of administration and visitor use in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve: National Park Service, Anchorage, Alaska 398 p.
Davidson G (1904). The glaciers of Alaska that are shown on Russian charts or mentioned in older narratives: Transactions and Proceedings, Geographic Society of the Pacific, 2d series, Vol 3, 33 p.
Echelmeyer KA, Harrison WD, Larsen CF, Sapiano J, Mitchell JE, DeMallie J, Rabus B, Adalgeirsdóttir G, Sombardier L (1996). Airborne surface profiling of glaciers: A case-study in Alaska. Journal of Glaciology 42(142):538-547. https://doi.org/10.3189/S002214300000352X
European Space Agency (2021). CryoSat-2, eoPortal Directory. Retrieved 2021 September 12 from website: https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/content/-/article/cryosat2
Field WO (1975). Mountain Glaciers of the Northern Hemisphere, Vols. 1 and 2. Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, Hanover, NH.
Grant US, Higgins DF (1913). Coastal Glaciers of Prince William Sound and Kenai Peninsula, USGS Bulletin 526, 113 p.
Giffen BA, Hall DK, Chien JYL (2014). Alaska: Glaciers of Kenai Fjords National Park and Katmai National Park and Preserve. In: Kargel JS, Leonard GJ, Bishop MP, Kääb A, Raup B (Eds). Global Land Ice Monitoring from Space, Chpt. 12, pp 241-261. Springer Praxis Books, 437 p. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014241.
Hall DK, Giffen BA, Chien JYL (2005). Changes in the Harding Icefield and the Grewingk-Yalik Glacier Complex. Proceedings of the 62nd Eastern Snow Conference, Waterloo, ON, Canada, pp 29-40.
Jakob L, Gourmelen N, Ewart M, Plummer S (2021). Spatially and temporally resolved ice loss in High Mountain Asia and the Gulf of Alaska observed by CryoSat-2 swath altimetry between 2010 and 2019. The Cryosphere 15:1845-1862. https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-15-1845-2021
Jorgenson, M. Torre, Gerald V. Frost, Will E. Lentz, and Alan J. Bennett. 2006. Photographic monitoring of landscape change in the southwest Alaska network of national parklands. Report No. NPS/AKRSWAN/NRTR-2006/03. ABR, Inc.–Environmental Research & Services, Fairbanks, Alaska. https://www.arlis.org/docs/vol1/174048838.pdf
Klein E, Berg EE, Dial R (2005). Wetland drying and succession across the Kenai Peninsula Lowlands, south-central Alaska. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 35(8):1931-1941. https://doi.org/10.1139/x05-129
Lanik A, Hults CP, Kurtz D (2018). Kenai Fjords National Park: Geologic resources inventory report. Natural Resource Report NPS/NRSS/GRD/NRR–2018/1851. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. http://npshistory.com/publications/kefj/nrr-2018-1581.pdf
Loso M, Arendt A, Larsen CF, Rich J, Murphy N (2014). Alaskan national park glaciers - Status and trends. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://irma.nps.gov/App/Reference/Profile/2217472
Lucht W, Prentice IC, Myneni RB, Sitch S, Friedlingstein P, Cramer W, Bousquet P, Buermann W, Smith B (2002). Climatic control of the high-latitude vegetation greening trend and Pinatubo effect. Science 296(5573):1687-1689. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1071828
Molnia BF (2005). Repeated rapid retreats of Bering Glacier by disarticulation - the cyclic dynamic response of an Alaskan glacier system. American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Abstracts v1, p 3.
Molnia BF (2007). Late nineteenth to early twenty-first century behavior of Alaskan glaciers as indicators of changing regional climate. Global and Planetary Change 56(1-2):23-56. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2006.07.011
Molnia BF (2008). Glaciers of Alaska. In: Williams RSJr, Ferrigno JG (Eds). Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1386-K, xxvii + 525 p.
Molnia BF, Karpilo RDJr, Pfeiffenberger J, Capra D (2007). Visualizing climate change – using repeat photography to document the impacts of changing climate on glaciers and landscapes. Alaska Park Science 6(1):42-47.
NASA (2014). GRACE Mission website. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/Grace/index.html
NASA (2017). ICESat & ICESat2 website. https://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/
NOAA (2021). Alaska Fisheries Science Center website - NOAA EEZ Bathymetric Map – US Maritime Limit Boundaries - 200NM EEZ and Maritime Boundaries. https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=c41002831ed34ce0b63727ed7d3636cc
National Park Service (2020). Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska Brochure (digital). https://www.nps.gov/kefj/index.htm
National Park Service (2021). Repeat Photography Collection in Kenai Fjords – website. https://www.nps.gov/kefj/learn/nature/glacier-repeat-photography.htm
National Snow and Ice Data Center (2015). Glacier Photograph Collection, Version 1. Boulder, Colorado USA. NSIDC: National Snow and Ice Data Center. https://doi.org/10.7265/N5/NSIDC-GPC-2009-12
Pelto M (2017). Pedersen Glacier, Alaska Rapid Retreat 1994-2015: American Geophysical Union Blogosphere – From A Glacier’s Perspective, published on July 6, 2017. https://blogs.agu.org/fromaglaciersperspective/2017/07/06/pedersen-glacier-alaska-rapid-retreat-1994-2015/
Pendleton EA, Thieler ER, Williams SJ (2004). Relative coastal change-potential assessment of Kenai Fjords National Park: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2004-1373. https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1373/index.html
Rice B (1987). Changes in the Harding Icefield, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska: with management implications for Kenai Fjords Nation Park. MSc thesis. University of Alaska, Fairbanks, Alaska, School of Agriculture and Land Resources, 142 p.
Schwatka F (1885). Along Alaska’s great river: New York, Cassell and Company, 360 p.
Skidmore ER (1894). Recent explorations in Alaska: National Geographic Magazine 5:173-179.
Skidmore ER (1896). Discovery of Glacier Bay: National Geographic Magazine 7:140-146.
Tebenkov MD (1852). Atlas “Sieverozapadnykh beregov’ Ameriki ot’ Bering ova proliva do mysa Korrientes’ i ostrovov’ Aleutskikh’ s” prisovokupleniem’ niekotorykh’ miest’ Sieverovostochnago berega Azii: Sankt-Peterburg” [An English version exists: Tebenkov MD, 1981, Atlas of the northwest coasts of America: from Bering Strait to Cape Corrientes and the Aleutian Islands with several sheets on the northeast coast of Asia: Kingston, Ontario, Limestone Press, 109 p., 20 maps].
Truffer M (2014). Ice thickness measurements on the Harding Icefield, Kenai Peninsula, Alaska. Natural Resource Data Series NPS/KEFJ/NRDS–2014/655. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/DownloadFile/494235
USGS (1950a). Blying Sound D-7 Topographic Map Quadrangle, Scale: 1:63,360. Topography by photogrammetric methods from aerial photographs taken in 1950. https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ht-bin/tv_browse.pl?id=6dceef4cf426b85157aa98e60f962797
USGS (1950b). Blying Sound D-8 Topographic Map Quadrangle, Scale: 1:63,360.Topography by photogrammetric methods from aerial photographs taken in 1950.
USGS (1951). Seldovia D-1 Topographic Map Quadrangle, Scale: 1:63,360, Topography by photogrammetric methods from trimetrogon aerial photographs taken in 1941-1946. https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/ht-bin/tv_browse.pl?id=d451448863a85d1b1703d8aa3b8378d4
Viereck LA (1967). Botanical dating of recent glacial activity in western North America. In: Wright HEJr, Osburn WH (Eds). Arctic and Alpine Environment: Indiana University Press, p. 189-204.
VonLooy J, Forster R, Ford A (2006). Accelerating thinning of Kenai Peninsula glaciers, Alaska. Geophysics Research Letters 33(21):L21307. https://doi.org/10.1029/2006GL028060
Wells AF, Frost GV, Christopherson T, Trainor ER (2014). Ecological land survey and soil landscapes map for Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska, 2013. Natural Resource Technical Report NPS/KEFJ/NRTR–2014/921. National Park Service, Fort Collins, Colorado. https://irma.nps.gov/DataStore/Reference/Profile/2217363
Wiles GC, Barclay DJ, Calkin PE (1999). Tree-ring-dated “Little Ice Age” histories of maritime glaciers from western Prince William Sound, Alaska. The Holocene 9(2):163-173. https://doi.org/10.1191/095968399671927145
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Distribution - Permissions - Copyright
Papers published in Nova Geodesia are Open-Access, distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution License.
© Articles by the authors; licensee SMTCT, Cluj-Napoca, Romania. The journal allows the author(s) to hold the copyright/to retain publishing rights without restriction.
License:
Open Access Journal - the journal offers free, immediate, and unrestricted access to peer-reviewed research and scholarly work, due to SMTCT support to increase the visibility, accessibility and reputation of the researchers, regardless of geography and their budgets. Users are allowed to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full texts of the articles, or use them for any other lawful purpose, without asking prior permission from the publisher or the author.