Title: Documenting Changes in Alaskan Glaciers with Historic Photography
1Documenting Changes in Alaskan Glaciers with
Historic Photography
Bruce F. Molnia U.S. Geological Survey
926A National Center Reston, VA
20192 bmolnia_at_usgs.gov
703-648-4120
2If a picture is worth a thousand words, then what
is the value of the information content of a pair
of photographs that span a century, both taken
from the same location, and both showing the same
field of view?
3Documenting Changes in Alaskan Glaciers with
Historic Photography
4- More than 1,000 late-19th-century and
early-20th-century photographs have been
collected that show landscape features, including
glacier termini throughout Alaska. - The earliest of these photographs predates 1890.
- This photographic record spans about half of the
Post-Little-Ice-Age period.
5The primary objective of this investigation is to
document more than a century of landscape
evolution and changes in glaciers, vegetation,
hydrology, and sedimentation within selected
Alaskan National Parks using historical
photography.
Objectives
6The objective of this presentation is to present
examples of the types of information that results
from this on-going investigation and to
demonstrate that the same approach can be equally
successful in many other National Parks.
Objectives
7Parks Currently Involved
Denali National Park Glacier Bay
National Park Kenai Fjords National Park
Parks That Could Become Involved
Aniakchak National Monument Gates of the Arctic
National Park Katmai National Park Lake Clark
National Park Wrangell St Elias National Park
8ALASKA
Sites with Historical Photos
Current Field Investigations
9In the past five years, more than 100 locations
from which historical photographs had been made
were revisited and rephotographed.
10- Photographic comparisons clearly document
- advance and retreat of larger glaciers
- short-term fluctuations of smaller glaciers
- transitions from tidewater termini to
land-based, debris- covered termini - rapid vegetative development and succession
- fiord sedimentation and erosion
- development of outwash and talus features and
- many other dramatic changes.
Key Findings
111
McCarty Glacier 1909
12August 2004
13McCarty Glacier 1909
142
McCarty Glacier - 1909
15August 2004
16McCarty Glacier 1909 - 2004
173
Holgate Glacier - 1909
18August 2004
19Holgate Glacier - 1909 - 2004
204
Pedersen Glacier 1909
21August 2004
22Pedersen Glacier 1909 2004
235
East Teklanika Glacier - 1919
24August 2004
25East Teklanika Glacier 1919 - 2004
266
Muir Inlet Glacier 1941
27August 2004
28 Muir Inlet Glacier - Riggs Glacier 1941-2004
297
Carroll Glacier 1906
30September 2003
31Carroll Glacier 1906 2003
328
Carroll Glacier 1906
33June 2004
34Carroll Glacier 1906 2004
359
Lamplugh Glacier 1941
36September 2003
37Lamplugh Glacier 1941 2003
3810
Muir Glacier 1899
39September 2003
40Muir Glacier 1899 2003
4111
Muir Glacier 1976
42September 2003
43Muir Glacier 1976 2003
44- FY 05 Field Work KEFJ and GLBA
- Desire to expand study to other SWAN Parks and
WRST (We are seeking other interested parks in
which to work.) - Cooperators performing similar studies at
several lower 48 Parks. Met with ROMO resource
managers and will begin preliminary evaluation in
summer FY05 - Recommend this approach to all glacierized Parks
with historical photographic record.
Future Plans
4512
Toboggan Glacier 1909
46September 2000
47Toboggan Glacier 1909 -2000