HR: 0800h
AN: C41A-0062    [Abstracts]
TI: Structural Glaciology, Dynamics, and Changes of the Grand Pacific Glacier System, Saint Elias Mountains, British Columbia, Canada, and Alaska, U.S.A.
AU: * Mayer, H
EM: mayerh@tryfan.colorado.edu
AF: Institut fuer Mechanik, Technische Universitaet Darmstadt, Darmstadt, 64289, Germany
AU: Herzfeld, U C
EM: herzfeld@tryfan.colorado.edu
AF: Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309-0449, United States
AB: The cryosphere has been undergoing drastic and rapid changes in recent years. Mass loss is reported from most glaciers and ice sheets worldwide. At the same time, there is strong evidence for global warming. In Alaska, the majority of glaciers is retreating, whereas a considerable number of glaciers is advancing or fluctuating. So, although it may appear clear that glaciers are melting in response to climatic warming, the relationship is not as simple and straightforward as that. Glaciers are dynamical systems, and fast-moving glaciers in particular follow their own internal dynamics, although ultimately all glaciers are subject to climatic forcing. When assessing a glacier's mass balance or terminus retreat/advance in relation to climatic change, it is crucial to take into account of which dynamical type that glacier is. In remote areas, however, this is often unknown. In this context, we have been developing a structural-glaciological methodology that allows for the dynamical classification of glaciers from remote-sensing data (aerial or satellite) based on structural analysis of surface deformation structures and their patterns. Here, we present a structural overview and characterization of some dynamically differing and interesting glaciers in the Grand Pacific Glacier System of the Saint Elias Mountains in British Columbia, Canada, and Alaska, U.S.A., and assess their recent changes.
DE: 0720 Glaciers
DE: 0758 Remote sensing
DE: 0774 Dynamics
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting