North Cascades National Park Complex glacier mass balance monitoring annual report, water year 2013: North Coast and Cascades Network
Riedel J and Larrabee MA. 2018. North Cascades National Park Complex glacier mass balance monitoring annual report, water year 2013: North Coast and Cascades Network. Natural Resource Data Series. NPS/NCCN/NRDS—2018/1142. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
Glaciers cover approximately 93.6 km2 in North Cascades National Park Service Complex (NOCA), and are a high-priority Vital Sign in the North Coast and Cascades Network (NCCN) monitoring plan because they are sensitive, dramatic indicators of climate change and drivers of aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems (Riedel et al. 2008). Since 1993, seasonal volume changes at four NOCA glaciers have been monitored using methods developed as part of the NCCN Glacier Monitoring Protocol (Riedel et al, 2008). In this report, glacier monitoring data for water year (WY) 2013 are presented as point mass balance, provisional glacier-wide mass balances and provisional glacier contribution to summer streamflow. Point mass balances were measured at 18 sites on four glaciers for WY2013. Winter accumulation was near to above average for most sites (96-125 percent of 1993-2012 average), the exception being Silver stake 1 (144%) and North Klawatti stake 5 (81%). Summer balances were above average (106-153 percent of average). Point annual balances were mostly below average ranging from -5.12 to +1.23 meters water equivalent. Glacier-wide mass balances, which are the integration of point mass balance values across the entire glacier surface were calculated. Winter accumulation was near average at North Klawatti and Sandalee glaciers (101-102%) and above average at Noisy Creek and Silver glaciers (114-131%). Summer melt was above average for all glaciers (111-136%). Glacier-wide annual (net) balances were negative for all glaciers for the first year since 2009 and for the 12th year since 1993. Glacier contribution to May-September runoff was estimated in four watersheds for WY2013. The volume of glacial runoff was approximately 20 percent above average; contributing an estimated 405 million m3 of meltwater to streamflow. The percent of glacial contribution to total summer streamflow ranged from 4.7 to 29.2 percent.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Riedel, Jon; Larrabee, Michael
- Date of Issue
- 2018-01
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- NOCA , NRSS
- Keywords
- ablation, Aerial, annual report, Area, bulk density, climate change, Discharge, ELA, equilibrium line altitude, firn, Geology, Glacier, Glacier monitoring, Habitat, Hydrology, Ice, Mass Balance, mean water equivalent, Meltwater, Monitoring, Natural Resource Conservation Service, Noisy Glacier, North Klawatti Glacier, oblique, Photograph, Sandalee Glacier, Silver Glacier, snotel, snow depth, stake, Stream Flow, surface elevation, U.S. Geological Survey, Water Year
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Air and Climate | Weather and Climate | Weather and Climate , Ecological Framework: Geology and Soils | Geomorphology | Glacial Features and Processes , Ecological Framework: Water | Hydrology | Surface Water Dynamics