The Bering Glacier

The
Bering Glacier

The coast of Alaska and the region around Bering Glacier has a long
History of human occupation and subsistence use.

Vitus Bering
Born: 1681
Denmark
First Voyage 1725
Discovered the southern
Coast of Alaska and
Aleutian Islands in 1741
Died: December 19, 1741
on Bering Island

•Don Miller of USGS investigated the Bering Glacier Region and mapped the
geology of the area in the 1940s
•Austin Post began a multi-year systematic study between 1960-1963

•Between 1980 and 2002 the USGS conducted annual research at the glacier.
•After the 1995 surge the BLM took an active role developing multidisciplinary
research and operated the local camp from FY 2000 to the present.

•Bering Glacier is located south of Alaska's Wrangell-St. Elias National Park
about 10 km from the Gulf of Alaska, combined with the Bagley Ice Field.
•The BLM lands comprise approximately 827 thousand acres below the
glacier and a portion of the forelands.

•Bering Glacier is 7% of Glacial Area of Alaska and may
contain 15-20% of Alaska’s total Glacier Ice.

•Largest and Longest Glacier in Continental North America area of 5,000 sq km
and 190 km in length.
•The glacier exhibits surge events and has surged at least six times in the past 150
years.

•Bering Glacier is the Largest Surging Glacier in North America
and surges on a cycle of every 20-25 years.
•The last surge took place in 1994/1995 and moved forward at a
rate of 300 feet/day.
•Because of the surging/retreat cycle of the glacier it is one of the
most dynamic places on earth.
Out burst movie….

•Recent examination of the glacier shows signs of a surge in 2011

QQQQ

The Glacier has retreated
approximately .6 miles
per year since the retreat
of 1995.

•The glacier annually releases approximately 30 cubic kilometers of water
into the gulf of Alaska, twice the amount of water in the entire Colorado
River.

•Because of the sheer size of the glacier and its dynamic nature
provides opportunities for research rarely found anywhere else on the
planet.

Bering Glacier Research Camp

John Payne, BLM/NSSI
Project Manager

Scott Guyer BLM
Camp Manager
Logistics
Cook

Bob Shuchman and Liza Jenkins MTRI
remote sensing
ablation
water quality

Chris Noyles BLM
Nathan Rathbun
& Jack Frost, BLM

High School Student Program

UAA Geology Team

Anne Pasch,
UAA Paleontology
Jennifer Burns, UAA
Marine mammals

Danielle Dickson, UAA Seal Biologist

Southern University and MTRI

Heidi Weigner, UAA Fisheries

Southern University

Kris Crossin UAA

Michigan Tech Research Institute and Southern University

Danielle Allen, BLM Public Affairs
and Rachel Wolf Radio Tech

BLM Resource Advisory Council Tour 2005

Jay Fleshier University
of New York and Earth
Watch

Ian Shennan University of Durham, UK

Marilyn Barker UAA and
Alan Batten UAF Botany Team

Glacier Ablation Measurements

Steam drill used to place
ablation equipment.

MTRI/BLM developed
GASS (glacier ablation
sensing system)
Ablation
GPS
Temperature
Wind speed
Humidity
Barometric pressure
Light intensity

Recalibration of GASS through out the summer

Down loading ablation data

“I am going to need a
longer cord for this one!”

Should have been here
two weeks ago!

Melt rate as a function of Altitude

Observations:
• At elevations

Observations continued:
• Discharge form Vitus lake strongly influences the entire
coastal marine ecosystem.
• Changes in discharge rates due to climate change could
alter the rich and diverse marine habitat important to
salmon and marine mammals.

A few days later
Thinning leads to
catastrophic failure of
the terminus

What governs the exchange of water between Vitus Lake and GOA?

Steady state level of Vitus Lake
Oscillating lake level
Evaluate the friction
coefficient “K” using our
measurements of:
Flow in Seal River, ADCP ( *), match
measured with model
Lake levels (Red line), match
attenuation and phase shift
Bathymetry of Vitus Lake
Forced with the tides in the Gulf of
Alaska
It is hard for the tides to get salt
water up the river into Vitus Lake

QUESTIONS?