Glacier and Landscape Change in Response to Changing Climate

This Web site provides an introduction to glaciers and climate — with a focus on the glaciers of Alaska.

Three oblique aerial photographs that show changes in the terminus of Bear Glacier, Kenai Mountains, Kenai Fjords National Park, Alaska, during the five year period between 2002 and 2007. High Resolution images: September 2, 2002   August 6, 2005   August 13, 2007

Climate change and its effects on natural resources and human communities are among the most challenging issues confronting our Nation. Understanding and communicating the nature of climate change impacts can be equally challenging because of the complexity of the processes that influence global and regional environmental change.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has an extensive, well-regarded history in research and monitoring climate change and its impacts. USGS scientists use long-term observational data and records to interpret consequences of climate change to the Nation’s biological populations, ecosystems, and land and water resources; make regional and national assessments of critical resource interdependencies; and forecast climate change effects on land, water, and ecological and biological responses to climate change that are widely used by policymakers, natural resource managers, and the public.

This website examines one aspect of the global climate issue — the inter-relationship between glaciers and climate — with a focus on the glaciers of Alaska. Following an introduction to climate, weather, glaciers, and sea level, this site presents a detailed look at the glaciers of Alaska. Emphasis is placed on providing numerous illustrations of how Alaskan landscapes and glaciers are responding to changing climate.

For additional information about climate change, visit the USGS Global Change Science Web site.

Introduction to Climate, Weather, Water, and Glaciers

• Weather and Climate
• Water on Earth
• Introduction to Glaciers
• Monitoring Earth's Glaciers
• Glaciers and Sea Level

Introduction to Glaciers of Alaska

• Glaciers of Alaska
• Repeat Photography of Alaskan Glaciers
  
  
  • Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
    • Muir Glacier
    • Reid Glacier
    • Lamplugh Glacier
    • Carroll Glacier
    • Plateau Glacier
      
      
  • East Arm of Glacier Bay National Park
    
    
  • Kenai Fjords National Park
    • Pedersen Glacier
    • Yalik Glacier
    • Aialik Glacier
    • McCarty Glacier
    • Holgate Glacier
    • Bear Glacier
    • Northwestern Glacier
      
      
  • Frozen in Time? (43 MB Powerpoint presentation)
    
    
  • Western Prince William Sound
    • Harvard Glacier
    • Toboggan Glacier
    • Yale Glacier
      
      
  • Denali National Park
    • Unnamed Glacier
      
      
• Additional Glacier Information