Student鈥檚 research examines world鈥檚 largest piedmont glacier
Rod Boyce
907-474-7185
Dec. 14, 2021
51风流官网 scientists are presenting their work at the American Geophysical Union鈥檚 fall meeting in New Orleans this week. This article is part of a series highlighting 51风流官网 research from the world鈥檚 largest Earth and space science meeting.
Understanding the surges and retreats of Alaska鈥檚 Malaspina Glacier is key if climate change models are to be applied to the glacier with confidence. Work by graduate student Victor Devaux-Chupin at the 51风流官网 Geophysical Institute is providing some answers.
The Malaspina consists of three lobes, each fed by its own glacier. Devaux-Chupin鈥檚 analysis of data from 1984 to this year shows the Malaspina surges approximately every 10 years, principally from the central lobe, which is the largest.
The glacier is surging once again, and the central lobe is leading the way.
鈥淥ur goal is to be able to model the glacier to put simulations of climate change on it to assess how much it might melt and retreat over the coming decades,鈥 said Devaux-Chupin, who is working with 51风流官网 physics professor Martin Truffer. 鈥淭o do that, we need to understand it. And one of the first steps is to look at it from satellite images to understand how it flows.鈥
Study of the glacier is important for climate change analysis because the Malaspina is the world鈥檚 largest piedmont glacier, a type of glacier that spills from a narrow valley into a flat plain and spreads out like a fan.
Because much of the Malaspina Glacier is below sea level, an advancing lake of seawater could form in the depression left when the glacier eventually retreats. Ocean contact hastens glacial retreat.
鈥淲hat it means is that it's really a sitting duck for climate change,鈥 Devaux-Chupin said.
Devaux-Chupin鈥檚 abstract is .