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Accelerating glacier volume loss on Juneau Icefield driven by hypsometry and melt-accelerating feedbacks

Lookup NU author(s): Professor Bethan DaviesORCiD

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Abstract

Globally, glaciers and icefields contribute significantly to sea level rise. Here we show that ice loss from Juneau Icefield, a plateau icefield in Alaska, accelerated after 2005 AD. Rates of area shrinkage were 5 times faster from 2015–2019 than from 1979–1990. Glacier volume loss remained fairly consistent (0.65–1.01 km³ a⁻¹) from 1770–1979 AD, rising to 3.08–3.72 km³ a⁻¹ from 1979–2010, and then doubling after 2010 AD, reaching 5.91 ± 0.80 km³ a⁻¹ (2010–2020). Thinning has become pervasive across the icefield plateau since 2005, accompanied by glacier recession and fragmentation. Rising equilibrium line altitudes and increasing ablation across the plateau has driven a series of hypsometrically controlled melt-accelerating feedbacks and resulted in the observed acceleration in mass loss. As glacier thinning on the plateau continues, a mass balance-elevation feedback is likely to inhibit future glacier regrowth, potentially pushing glaciers beyond a dynamic tipping point.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Davies B, McNabb R, Bendle J, Carrivick J, Ely J, Holt T, Markle M, McNeil C, Nicholson L, Pelto P

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Nature Communications

Year: 2024

Volume: 15

Online publication date: 02/07/2024

Acceptance date: 26/05/2024

Date deposited: 03/07/2024

ISSN (electronic): 2041-1723

Publisher: Nature Publishing Group

URL: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-49269-y

DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49269-y

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