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Air
Temperature and Precipitation at Wolverine Glacier, Alaska; Glacier Growth
in a Warmer, Wetter Climate
by Lawrence R. Mayo and Rod S. March
Annals of Glaciology v. 14, p. 191-194, 1990
ABSTRACT
Measurements at Wolverine Glacier, Alaska, from 1968 to 1988 indicate
unsteady increases of air temperature and precipitation since the early
1970s. These increases were due almost entirely to changes in winter.
Variations in annual temperature and precipitation at Wolverine Glacier and
at Seward, a nearby climatological station at sea level, correlate
positively with global temperature variations and are in general agreement
with the changes at high latitudes predicted by five recent general
atmospheric circulation models forced by anticipated rises of CO 2 .
A consequence of the air temperature and precipitation increases at
Wolverine Glacier was a change to a generally positive mass balance after
1976. Although these observations in the coastal maritime climate of Alaska
run against the common, oversimplified notion that in a warming climate
glaciers will melt, causing sea level to rise, they are logical and easily
understood when the sensitivity of the glacier to the seasonal distribution
of the changes is considered. The observed seasonal changes at Wolverine
Glacier also are in agreement with global climate models. Snow precipitation
and glacier accumulation increased, but at the same time warming affected
only those temperatures below about -5°C, and melting was not altered.
The extent of this response is not well known, but the process may be taking
place in other important glacierized regions.
Mayo, L.R., and March, R.S., 1990, Air temperature and precipitation at
Wolverine Glacier, Alaska glacier growth in a warmer, wetter climate: Annals
of Glaciology, v. 14, p. 191-194.
[Full Report: in Acrobat PDF,
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Maintainer: Rod March
Last update:
Tuesday, May 01, 2007 03:21 PM
URL: http://ak.water.usgs.gov/glaciology/wolverine/reports/1990_wolv_growth/index.htm
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