What’s Happening to Alaska’s Glaciers?
Did you know that out of Alaska’s 2000 glaciers, more than 99% are now retreating or stagnating, and that Alaska’s glaciers now contribute more water to raising sea level than Antarctica and other polar areas? This glacial retreat involves a newly recognized process known as “disarticulation” at more than a dozen large, retreating Alaskan glaciers. This process, first observed at Bering Glacier, is the passive, rapid separation of large pieces of ice from the terminus of a thinning glacier, resulting in its rapid retreat. It occurs when a thinning glacier termini reaches a state of buoyancy and separates from its bed. Dozens of very large tabular icebergs have been observed separating in a single event. The results of disarticulation are very similar to those of the collapses observed at several Antarctic ice shelves. Repeated Rapid Retreats of Bering Glacier by Disarticulation – The Cyclic Dynamic Response of an Alaskan Glacier System; by Bruce F. Molnia, Session C42A in MCC 2002 at 1
