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Terminus Response to Climate Change

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Climate Driven Retreat of Mount Baker Glaciers and Changing Water Resources

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Climate Studies ((BRIEFSCLIMATE))

Abstract

Changes in mass balance control a glacier’s long term behavior. Glacier termini respond to the changes in mass with a period of negative balance driving retreat. The glacier will lose the highest ablating lower sections of the glacier, which may bring it back into equilibrium with climate. A period of positive mass balance will cause a glacier to advance causing an increase in the area of a glacier at the lowest elevations where ablation is highest and retained snowfall the least. A glacier that cannot retreat to a point of equilibrium is in disequilibrium (Pelto MS, Hydrol Process 20:769–779. doi:10.1002/hyp.6132, 2006), a non-steady state response (Paul F, et al. Geophys Res Lett 31:L21402, 2004) and will not survive the climate that led to disequilibrium (Pelto MS, Cryosphere 3:323–350, 2010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Science, Nichols College, Dudley, MA, USA

    Mauri Pelto

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  1. Mauri Pelto
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Pelto, M. (2015). Terminus Response to Climate Change. In: Climate Driven Retreat of Mount Baker Glaciers and Changing Water Resources. SpringerBriefs in Climate Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22605-7_2

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