Inventory of glaciers in the Sierra Nevada, California

Raub, William F.; Brown, C. S.; Post, Austin

doi:10.3133/ofr20061239

Cited by 7 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…In the Sierra Nevada (USA) Raub et al (1980) separated 497 'glaciers' from 847 'small perennial ice masses' with glaciers being defined as ice masses having a bergschrund or crevasses; visible snow, firn or ice of different years; and/or moraines. The 847 'small perennial ice masses' was updated to 788 'small ice bodies that do not meet the definition of a glacier' in Raub et al (2006; although the data was from the early 1990s). In Montenegro, argued that visibly deformed convex bands of sediment-rich ice on the lower ice surface were consistent with variations in ice velocity across the glacier, with the fastest flow away from the ice margins.…”

Section: Little Ice Age and Surviving Glaciers In The Mediterranean Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

Little Ice Age glaciers and climate in the Mediterranean mountains: a new analysis

Hughes

2018

CIG

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Glaciers were common across the Mediterranean mountains during the Little Ice Age. In parts of Turkey some glaciers were several kilometres longer than they are today, whilst in the Pyrenees glaciers were up to several hundred metres longer. In the wettest Mediterranean mountains, such as the Dinaric Alps, many small glaciers and perennial snow patches would have been present. Even in driest and most southerly mountains, such as the High Atlas, small glaciers and perennial snowfields were present. This paper examines the evidence from these two contrasting regions (the western and southern Balkans and the High Atlas) and the climatic significance of glaciers in these areas during the Little Ice Age. Particular focus is given on the climatological controls on glacier mass balance in different climatic conditions. Glaciers in cold and dry climates exhibit different sensitivity to regional climate change compared with glaciers in cold and wet climates. In addition, the factors controlling ablation of glaciers in different climatic regimes can differ considerably, especially the relative contributions and effects of melting and sublimation. All Mediterranean mountain glaciers were strongly controlled by local topoclimatic factors. Avalanche-fed glaciers have proven to be the most resilient to climate change and dramatically increased accumulation from avalanching snow explains the surviving glaciers in the Dinaric Alps and the semi-perennial snow fields of the High Atlas. In addition, geology as well as landscape morphology inherited from Pleistocene glaciations plays a role in explaining the patterns of Little Ice Age glacier distribution and especially the patterns of retreat and survival of these glaciers. The resilience of some of the last remaining Mediterranean glaciers, in the face of warming climate, presents a contradiction and comparisons between glaciers gone and those that remain provides important insight into the future of similar glaciers globally.

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Section: Little Ice Age and Surviving Glaciers In The Mediterranean Mmentioning

confidence: 99%

Little Ice Age glaciers and climate in the Mediterranean mountains: a new analysis

Hughes

2018

CIG

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Both approaches relied on onetime aerial photography rather than multiple images of each feature over a number of years. Three detailed regional glacier inventories were compiled by glaciologists using vertical and oblique aerial photography: the North Cascade Range (Post et al, 1971) and Olympic Range (Spicer, 1986), which are both in Washington, and the Sierra Nevada (Raub et al, 2006), which is in California. These inventories were compiled at the 1:62,500 scale.…”

Section: Comparison With Regional Inventoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the Olympic Range, the 24K G&PS were grouped in the same manner for each small watershed to match Spicer's (1986) , and because of this vagueness we eliminated all features smaller than this threshold from both Post et al (1971) and our 24K inventory. For the Sierra Nevada, Raub et al (2006) included both "glaciers" and "ice patches" ≥ 0.005 km 2 , and for our comparison, we used that area threshold to filter the 24K. Also, for total area we used the Raub et al (2006) value for exposed ice rather than total area for the glacial features.…”

Section: Comparison With Regional Inventoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For the Sierra Nevada, Raub et al (2006) included both "glaciers" and "ice patches" ≥ 0.005 km 2 , and for our comparison, we used that area threshold to filter the 24K. Also, for total area we used the Raub et al (2006) value for exposed ice rather than total area for the glacial features. The 24K essentially mapped only ice-exposed areas, ignoring the debris-covered ice.…”

Section: Comparison With Regional Inventoriesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The most recent study (Selkowitz and Forster, 2016) inventoried the number and area of glaciers and perennial snowfields using Landsat imagery with an automated detection scheme. Regional glacier inventories have been compiled for the North Cascades and Olympic Mountains, Washington; and the Sierra Nevada, California (Post et al, 1971;Spicer, 1986;Raub et al, 2006). The tabular data summarized in these inventories are detailed; however, the mapped glacier outlines are generalized to fit the scale of the paper maps and therefore are not useful for specific comparison with later glacier outlines.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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