Alaska’s top-heavy glaciers approach irreversible tipping point

Enlarge / The Taku Glacier is one of many glaciers that originate in the Juneau Icefield. The melting of one of North America’s largest ice fields has accelerated and could soon reach an irreversible tipping point. That’s the conclusion of new research colleagues and I who have published on the Juneau Icefield, which straddles the … Read more

Alaska’s top-heavy glaciers approach irreversible tipping point

Credit: CC0 Public Domain The melting of one of North America’s largest ice fields has accelerated and could soon reach an irreversible tipping point. That’s the conclusion of new research colleagues and I who have published on the Juneau Ice Field, which straddles the Alaska-Canada border near Alaska’s capital, Juneau. In the summer of 2022, … Read more

Melting of Alaska’s Juneau Icefield is accelerating, with snow disappearing nearly five times faster than in the 1980s

The melting of Alaska’s Juneau Icefield, home to more than 1,000 glaciers, is accelerating, with the snow-covered area shrinking 4.6 times faster than it was in the 1980s, according to a new study. Researchers kept close track of snow depth in the nearly 1,500 square mile icy plain going back to 1948 with added data … Read more

Research shows Alaska’s ice sheet is melting at ‘incredibly disturbing’ rate

One of the largest areas of interconnected glaciers in North America is melting twice as fast as before 2010, a team of scientists reported Tuesday, calling it an “exceptionally troubling” sign that land ice could be disappearing even faster in many places than previously thought. The Juneau Ice Field, which stretches across the Coast Mountains … Read more