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

Bethan Davies (), Robert McNabb, Jacob Bendle, Jonathan Carrivick, Jeremy Ely, Tom Holt, Bradley Markle, Christopher McNeil, Lindsey Nicholson and Mauri Pelto
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Bethan Davies: Newcastle University
Robert McNabb: Ulster University
Jacob Bendle: Geological Survey of Norway
Jonathan Carrivick: University of Leeds
Jeremy Ely: University of Sheffield
Tom Holt: Aberystwyth University
Bradley Markle: University of Colorado Boulder
Christopher McNeil: Alaska Science Center
Lindsey Nicholson: Universität Innsbruck
Mauri Pelto: Nichols College

Nature Communications, 2024, vol. 15, issue 1, 1-19

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2024
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49269-y

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