The Regimen of the Andrews Glacier in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, 1957-1963

Outcalt, Samuel

ABSTRACT:The Andrews Glacier is the only Front Range Glacier for which quantitative glacier net budget data are currently available. The National Park Service has run a transit‐stadia profile down the center of the glacier intermittently, late in the ablation season, since 1957. Ablation measurements were carried out during the summer of 1962. The Glacio‐Climatic Mapping Project prepared photogrammetric maps of the glacier surface from late September photography flown in 1962 and 1963. The variation of mean summer temperature and winter precipitation at two nearby weather stations can be related to mean‐height variation along the profile through regression analysis. The glacier, when viewed over the entire observation period, appears to be maintaining a near equilibrium condition. The study indicates the feasibility of applying the techniques of regression analysis to longer data series in the future.