Climate Driven Retreat of Mount Baker Glaciers and Changing Water Resources (SpringerBriefs in Climate Studies)

This book presents the impact of climate change on Mount Baker glaciers, USA, and the rivers surrounding them. Glaciers are natural reservoirs that yield their resource primarily on warm dry summer days when other sources are at their lowest yield. This natural tempering of drought conditions will be reduced as they retreat. Mount Baker, a volcano in the Cascades of Washington, is currently host to 12 principal glaciers with an area of 36.8 km2. The glaciers yield 125 million cubic meters of water each summer that is a resource for salmon, irrigation and hydropower to the Nooksack River and Baker River watersheds. Recent rapid retreat of all 22 glaciers is altering the runoff from the glaciers, impacting both the discharge and temperature of the Nooksack and Baker River. Over the last 30 years we have spent 270 nights camped on the mountain conducting 10,500 observations of snow depth and melt rate on Mount Baker. This data combined with observations of terminus change, area change and glacier runoff over the same 30 years allow an unusually comprehensive story to be told of the effects of climate change to Mount Baker Glaciers and the rivers that drain them Preface 8 Contents 10 Chapter 1: Introduction to Mount Baker and the Nooksack River Watershed 12 1.1 Mount Baker Glaciers and the Nooksack River Watershed 12 1.2 Glaciers and Climate 15 1.3 Area Climate 16 1.4 Accumulation Snowpack 17 1.5 Ablation Season Temperature 19 1.6 Key Climate Indices 20 References 22 Chapter 2: Terminus Response to Climate Change 24 2.1 Terminus Observations 24 2.2 Equilibrium Response 24 2.3 Disequilibrium Response 25 2.4 Survival Forecast 25 2.5 Mount Baker Terminus Response 27 2.6 Initial Response Time 30 2.7 Complete Response Time 31 References 33 Chapter 3: Glacier Mass Balance 35 3.1 Glacier Mass Balance Measurement 35 3.2 Field Methods 35 3.3 Crevasse Stratigraphy 37 3.4 Ablation Assessment Using Transient Snow Line Observations 40 3.5 Record Snowfall Accumulation 40 3.6 Glacier Mass Balance 2013 41 3.6.1 Sholes Glacier 2013 41 3.6.2 Easton Glacier 2013 46 3.6.3 Rainbow Glacier 2013 46 3.7 Glacier Mass Balance 2014 47 3.7.1 Sholes Glacier 48 3.8 Field Observations of Annual Mass Balance 50 3.9 AAR-Annual Mass Balance Relationship 51 3.10 Balance Gradient Based Mass Balance Assessment 52 3.11 Median Elevation Mass Balance Assessment 53 3.12 Conclusion 55 References 56 Chapter 4: Alpine and Glacier Runoff 58 4.1 Timing 58 4.2 Glacier Runoff Stream Thermal Response 60 4.3 Nooksack Watershed Study Area 62 4.4 Glacier Runoff Assessment Methods 62 4.5 Nooksack River Discharge and Stream Temperature 63 4.6 Warm Weather Thermal Response 64 4.7 Discharge Response to Warm Weather Events 67 References 68 Chapter 5: Glacier Runoff Observations at Sholes Glacier 70 5.1 Glacier Runoff Measurement 70 5.2 Glacier Runoff Ablation Comparison 74 5.3 Glacier Runoff Observations Sholes Glacier 2014 74 5.4 Runoff Ablation Comparison 2014 74 5.5 Ablation Modelling 75 5.6 Heliotrope Glacier Observations 76 5.7 Glacier Runoff Contribution to North Fork Discharge 79 5.8 Glacier Runoff Conclusions 80 5.9 Nooksack Salmon 81 5.10 Conclusion 84 References 85 Chapter 6: Individual Glacier Behavior 87 6.1 Rainbow Glacier 87 6.2 Sholes Glacier 90 6.3 Mazama Glacier 91 6.4 Roosevelt Glacier 91 6.5 Coleman Glacier 92 6.6 Deming Glacier 94 6.7 Easton Glacier 100 6.8 Squak Glacier 102 6.9 Talum Glacier 108 6.10 Boulder Glacier 110 6.11 Park Glacier 113 References 115 This book℗lpresents the impact of climate change on Mount Baker glaciers, USA,℗land the rivers surrounding them. Glaciers are natural reservoirs that yield their resource primarily on warm dry summer days when other sources are at their lowest yield.℗l This natural tempering of drought conditions will be reduced as they retreat. Mount Baker, a volcano in the Cascades of Washington, is currently host to 12 principal glaciers with an area of 36.8 km2.℗l The glaciers yield 125 million cubic meters of water each summer that is a resource for salmon, irrigation and hydropower to the Nooksack River and Baker River watersheds.℗l Recent rapid retreat of all 22 glaciers is altering the runoff from the glaciers, impacting both the discharge and temperature of the Nooksack and Baker River. Over the last 30 years we have spent 270 nights camped on the mountain conducting 10,500 observations of snow depth and melt rate on Mount Baker. This data combined with observations of terminus change, area change and glacier runoff over the same 30 years allow an unusually comprehensive story to be told of the effects of climate change to Mount Baker Glaciers and the rivers that drain them Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction to Mount Baker and the Nooksack River Watershed....Pages 1-12 Terminus Response to Climate Change....Pages 13-23 Glacier Mass Balance....Pages 25-47 Alpine and Glacier Runoff....Pages 49-60 Glacier Runoff Observations at Sholes Glacier....Pages 61-77 Individual Glacier Behavior....Pages 79-107