Glacier Monitoring in the Central Alaska Network of National Parks
Loso MG . Glacier Monitoring in the Central Alaska Network of National Parks. 1991. National Park Service
Glaciers and glacier systems are dominant and dynamic physical features of two of the three parks (Denali, Wrangell-St. Elias) in the Central Alaska Network and are a driver of landform and ecosystem change in them. Glaciers are inextricably tied to climate and the hydrological cycle. Because glacier systems are regulated solely by climate fluctuations, they provide a reliable record of long-term climate change that has already occurred. Upper elevation climate is nearly impossible to measure directly and can be well represented by glacier dynamics. Glaciers provide significant hydrologic base flow to major rivers in Central Alaska national parks. Mass balance (snow accumulation and snow/ice melt) is the primary variable monitored on an annual basis in Denali and Wrangell-St. Elias. In Denali, mass balance has been measured twice annually (spring and fall) on Traleika and Kahiltna glaciers since 1991. Measurements on Kahiltna are ongoing, while measurements on Traleika were discontinued in 2016. In Wrangell-St. Elias, mass balance is measured twice annually on Kennicott Glacier, and is ongoing. Terminus mapping is completed for the parks using aerial and/or satellite imagery every decade or so. In addition, repeated measurements are taken on several focus glaciers throughout the park to measure changes in surface elevation.
- Type
- Project
- Authors
- Loso, Michael
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- CAKN , DENA , WRST
- Keywords
- CAKN, Central Alaska Network, change, climate change, cryosphere, DENA, Denali National Park, glacier, glaciers, inventory, monitoring, repeat photography, vital signs, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, WRST
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Glacial Features and Processes
Program
Products
- Glacier monitoring in the Central Alaska Network: Protocol narrative, version 1.0
- Glacier monitoring in the Central Alaska Network: Data quality standards, version 1.0
- Glacier Monitoring in the Central Alaska Network: Standard Operating Procedures
- Glacier Surveys 2024
- The demise of the world’s largest piedmont glacier: a probabilistic forecast
- An 85-year record of glacier change and refined projections for Kennicott and Root Glaciers, Alaska
- What to do about number two? Insights from decades of human waste research and management on Denali.
- A century of flow and surge history of Sít’ Tlein (Malaspina Glacier), Southeast Alaska
- Glacier Monitoring in Denali and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, 2022-2024
- Alaska's Shrinking Glaciers
- Surficial geology and proglacial lake change at Sít’ Tlein (Malaspina Glacier), Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska (map files)
- Surficial geology and proglacial lake change at Sít’ Tlein (Malaspina Glacier), Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, Alaska
- Anomalously high relief on Denali, Alaska, caused by tectonic, lithologic, and climatic drivers
- Alaska's Shrinking Glaciers: Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
- Alaska's Shrinking Glaciers: Denali National Park and Preserve
- Multi‐Year Glaciological and Meteorological Observations on Debris‐Covered Kennicott Glacier, Alaska, 2016–2023
- Stream hydrology controls on ice cliff evolution and survival on debris-covered glaciers
- CAKN Glacier Protocol Datasets 2024
- CAKN Glacier Protocol SQL Database Backup Files
- Crossing the Zero-Degree Threshold
- Geomorphic and sedimentary signatures of catastrophic glacier detachments: A first assessment from Flat Creek, Alaska
- Glacier Monitoring in Denali and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve, 2016-2021
- Changes over the Last 35 Years in Alaska's Glaciated Landscape: A Novel Deep Learning Approach to Mapping Glaciers at Fine Temporal Granularity
- Glacier Surveys 2022
- Terminal Pleistocene human occupation of the upper Copper River basin, southern Alaska: Results of test excavations at Nataeł Na’
- Quo vadis, Alsek? Climate-driven glacier retreat may change the course of a major river outlet in southern Alaska
- Fluvial suspended sediment transfer and lacustrine sedimentation of recent flood turbidites in proglacial Eklutna Lake, western Chugach Mountains, Alaska
- What drives large-scale glacier detachments? Insights from Flat Creek glacier, St. Elias Mountains, Alaska
- Kennicott Glacier Interpretive Concept Plan
- Explaining mass balance and retreat dichotomies at Taku and Lemon Creek Glaciers, Alaska
- Catastrophic Glacier Collapse and Debris Flow at Flat Creek, Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
- The 2015 Taan Fiord Landslide and Tsunami
- Sedimentology and geomorphology of a large tsunamigenic landslide, Taan Fiord, Alaska
- The 2015 landslide and tsunami in Taan Fiord, Alaska
- Icy Bay Mega-Tsunami
- Glacial conditioning of stream position and flooding in the braid plain of the Exit Glacier foreland, Alaska
- The role of microbes in snowmelt and radiative forcing on an Alaskan icefield
- Geometry, mass balance and thinning at Eklutna Glacier, Alaska: an altitude-mass-balance feedback with implications for water resources
- Why Should We Care About Glaciers?
- Alaska National Park Glaciers Status and Trends
- Alaskan national park glaciers – status and trends: Final report
- Alaskan national park glaciers - status and trends: Addendum to the 2014 Final report
- Alaskan National Park glaciers - status and trends: Fourth progress report
- Alaskan National Park glaciers - status and trends: Third progress report
- Alaskan National Park glaciers - status and trends: Second progress report.
- Alaskan National Park glaciers - status and trends: First progress report.
- How does debris cover on the Kennicott Glacier influence glacier shrinking?
- Status and trends of Alaska National Park glaciers: what do they tell us about climate change?
- Annual report on vital signs monitoring of glaciers in the Central Alaska Network, 2011–2013
- Monitoring glaciers in the Central Alaska Network
- Randolf Glacier Inventory
- Glacial transport of human waste and survival of fecal bacteria on Mt. McKinley’s Kahiltna Glacier, Denali National Park, Alaska
- Lichenometric dating of Little Ice Age glacier moraines using explicit demographic models of lichen colonization, growth, and survival
- Glacier Extent
- Transient impacts of Little Ice Age glacier expansion on sedimentation processes at glacier-dammed Iceberg Lake, southcentral Alaska
- Glacial Transport of Human Waste and Survival of Fecal Bacteria on Mt. McKinley's Kahiltna Glacier, Denali National Park, Alaska
- Glacier trends and response to climate in Denali National Park and Preserve
- Annual report on Vital Signs monitoring of glaciers in the Central Alaska Network, 2010
- Glacier monitoring in Denali National Park and Preserve
- A Disappearing Lake Reveals the Little Ice Age History of Climate and Glacier Response in the Icefields of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve
- A 1500-year record of temperature and glacial response inferred from varved Iceberg Lake, southcentral Alaska
- Post–Little Ice Age record of coarse and fine clastic sedimentation in an Alaskan proglacial lake
- The biology behind lichenometric dating curves
- National Park Service Central and Southwest Alaska Network (CAKN/SWAN) Inventory and Monitoring Program Glacier Monitoring Scoping Workshop
- DENA Glaciers 63K
See also
- SWAN Monitoring Glacier Extent
- Expansion of the Southeast Alaska Network Vital Signs Monitoring Program to the Outer Coasts of Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve and Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve