Glacier terminus changes are one of the hallmarks of worldwide glacier change, and thus, there is significant focus on the controls and limits to retreat in the literature. Here we use the observational record of glacier terminus change from satellite remote sensing data to characterize glacier retreat in central West Greenland with a focus on the last 30 years. We compare terminus observations of retreat to glacier/fjord geometry from available bed and bathymetry data and find that glacier retreat accelerates through wide, overdeepened parts of the bed characterized by retrograde bed slopes. We find that the morphology of the overdeepening can be used as a predictive measure for the length of retreat and that short regions (less than twice the seasonal change in terminus position) of the bed with prograde bed slopes are not sufficient to stop a retreating terminus. Even narrow overdeepenings can control glacier retreat, likely because they focus subglacial runoff, which entrains warm water in the fjords when it emerges at the grounding line and melts the terminus, creating enhanced local retreat. Future retreat of these glaciers is assessed given upstream fjord geometry.

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A field experiment was designed to measure effectiveness of interpretive programming at the San Bernardino National Forest in southern California. The focus of this experiment was to evaluate a newly created youth naturalist program designed by the U.S. Forest Service. During the summer of 1996, 439 visitors completed questionnaires at either a campfire talk or a trail hike. The questionnaires measured their knowledge, attitudes, and/or feelings about how the programs were delivered. Results indicated that interpreters at the campfire talk and the trail hike were successful in accomplishing the stated objectives of knowledge and attitude change. Youth naturalists were equally effective as adults on several, but not all, performance measures.

Physical scientists, social scientists, humanities scholars, and journalists have all framed Antarctica as a place of global importance—as a laboratory for scientific research, as a strategic site for geopolitical agendas, and more recently as a source of melting ice that could catastrophically inundate populations worldwide. Yet, the changing cryosphere impacts society within Antarctica as well, and this article expands the focus of Antarctic ice research to include human activities on and around the continent. It reframes Antarctica as a place with human history and local activities that are being affected by melting ice, even if the consequences are much smaller in scale than the effects of global sea level rise. Specifically focused on tourism and conservation along the west Antarctica Peninsula (wAP), this article demonstrates the impacts of changing glaciers and sea ice on the timing, location, and type of tourism as well as the ability of changing ice to mediate human experiences through conservation agendas. As future ice conditions influence Antarctic tourism and conservation, an attention to issues emerging within the wAP region offers a new perspective on climate change impacts and the management of Antarctic activities in the 21st-century Anthropocene.