Mauri Pelto

@mauri-pelto.bsky.social

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Glaciologist who has spent 40+ years doing fieldwork on glaciers. Science advisor to NASA Earth. US Representative to the World Glacier Monitoring Service. Author of blog on AGU "From a Glaciers Perspective. Grandparent, avid skier, dog walk/runner.

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Seward, Alaska nearby coastal lake terminating glaciers Bear, Ellsworth, Excelsior, and Pedersen average retreat of 4800 m from 1986 to 2023 has led to rapid lake expansion. #glaciology #climatechange glacierchange.blog/2024/07/08/s...

Seward, Alaska Area Coastal Glacier Change 1986-2023glacierchange.blog Change in terminus position of coastal glaciers in the Sewqrd region. On this 2023 Landsat image yellow dots are ther 2023 terminus and red dots the 1986 terminus. Turn east along the coast from Sewar...

Reply to

Mauri Pelto

The most significant Juneau Icefield glacier that disappeared after 1984 was Antler Glacier, here shown in 1948 USGS map and Landsat images from 1984 and 2014. This glacier was impressive when I skied above it in 1981. #climatechange #glaciology glacierchange.blog/2015/03/12/d...

I first worked on this icefield in 1981. Change was expected, but the change we are reporting in 2024 is breathtaking in scale and acceleration. Project led by masterfully by @bethandavies.bsky.social, coordinating many data streams. apnews.com/article/glac...

Melting of Alaska's Juneau icefield accelerates, losing snow nearly 5 times faster than in the 1980sapnews.com A new study says the melting of Alaska’s Juneau icefield, home to more than 1,000 glaciers, is accelerating.

@iamdonovan.bsky.social Alaskan fieldwork images relative to this project?

Grand Plateau Glacier, Alaska retreat 5.5 km since 1984, leads to new island formation and lake expansion of more than 100% to 49 sq. km. @watershedlab.bsky.social glacierchange.blog/2024/06/18/g...

Grand Plateau Glacier, Retreat, Lake Expansion and Island Formationglacierchange.blog Grand Plateau Glacier in Sentinel image illustrating retreat from Island (I) where it terminated in 1984. There was only narrow fringing lake in USGS map from 1948 images. Today lake is 49 km2 and gla...

Reply to

Dan Shugar

The southern terminus changing little, all action so far on the northern terminus. I think you are correct, that this tongue will not survive the summer. Two years ago there were fireworks-icebergworks around July 4th. glacierchange.blog/2022/07/06/a...

Alsek Glacier, Alaska Releases its own Fireworks-Iceberg Discharge July 2022glacierchange.blog Alsek Glacier, Alaska in a Sentinel Image from July 1, 2022 indicating an area of rapid recent calving, red dots. The northern tongue has accelerated in the last six year (NASA ITS_Live). Alsek Glacie...

Yes noticed that northern calving front is the catalyst for now.

Alsek #Glacier *almost* detached from pinning point on the island in Alsek Lake. Once that happens, glacier will likely retreat even more rapidly (this is already ~0.95 km2 in less than a year!). These #PlanetLabs #satellite images are from June 20, 2023 and May 30, 2024. @mauri-pelto.bsky.social

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Mauri Pelto

Want to know how much ice is left in Africa ? 🌍🧊🏔️ 🔥 NOT MUCH ! 🔥 🔥 1.36 km² ! 🔥 🔥 1.36 km² ! 🔥 (= less than a small glacier in the Alps) 0.98 on Kilimanjaro 0.38 in Rwenzori Mtns 0.069 on Mt Kenya It was 20 km² in 1900 and 6 km² in 1990... researchgate.net/publication/...

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Mauri Pelto

Über das ganze letzte Jahr war jeder einzelne Tag ein Rekordtag in der globalen Ozean-Oberflächentemperatur. www.bbc.com/news/science...

Climate change: World's oceans suffer from record-breaking year of heatwww.bbc.com Every single day of the past 12 months has seen a new global sea temperature high for the time of year.

Mount Everest glacier snow lines remained above 5800 m from Nov. to May. May 1 snow line is highest avg.= 6050 m, this indicates persistent limited ablation through winter. Khumbu Glacier snow free areas evident into the Western Cwm and Lhotse Face. glacierchange.blog/2024/05/05/m...

Mount Everest Glaciers Limited Snow Cover Persists From November 2023 into May 2024glacierchange.blog The snow line on Mount Everest Region glaciers on May 1,, 2024 indicated by yellow dots on the Landsat image. Note that Nangpa La and Nup La-two high passes (5800-5900 m) are both snow free. The avera...

Baird Glacier tongue breaks off April 2024 leading to proglacial lake expansion to 5.0 km2. The lake first developed in 2013. glacierchange.blog/2024/05/03/b...

Baird Glacier, Alaska TTerminus ongue Breaks Off April 2024glacierchange.blog Baird Glacier in false color Sentinel images from September 10 2023 and May 2 2024. Proglacial lake (PGL) expanded from 3.2 to 5.1 km². Tongue extending upvalley toward North Baird Glacier (NB) broke ...

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Mauri Pelto

2024 shaping up to either match or surpass 2023 as the hottest year on record. by @hausfath.bsky.social @carbonbrief.org www.carbonbrief.org/state-of-the...

State of the climate: 2024 off to a record-warm start - Carbon Briefwww.carbonbrief.org Global temperatures have been exceptionally high over the past three months – at around 1.6C above pre-industrial levels

Amazing work leveraging 65 year old data. The change in knickpoint and inland acceleration are notable. Most striking to me are the large transverse crevasses, that have are so long and linear.

🚨 New ice dynamics study! 🚨 Ice flow is changing >100 km inland on the Greenland ice sheet, with acceleration of ~10% and mega-crevasses emerging in recent decades. article: nature.com/articles/s43... news: eng.geus.dk/about/news/n... Led by Anja Løkkegaard/GEUS

No rest for the ice: Study documents increased movement of ice far into the Greenland Ice Sheeteng.geus.dk Comparisons of new measurements with data from 1959 suggest that ice far from the edge of the Greenland Ice Sheet is more dynamic than expected.

Stefffen Glacier, Chile finishes the 2024 summer season with largest calving event of the year. The summer season featured 5 new large icebergs calved total 1.5 km2. Illustrated with false color Sentinel images. glacierchange.blog/2024/04/21/s...

Steffen Glacier, Chile Active Calving Season Concludes with Largest Event in 2024glacierchange.blog Steffen Glacier in 2024 False Color Sentinel images illustrating calving events yielding bergs A,B,X and Y that have a combined area of 1.5 km2. Green arrow is Dec. 2023 terminus and yellow arrow Apri...

This is a relatively small lake that is not that deep, hence even a modest avalanche can generate somewhat of a wave. The outlet shows little change.

A new GLOF event in Nepal on 20th April ❄️🧊🌊 #Birendra Lake (3691 m asl) located 7 km north west of Manaslu (8163 m asl) @planet image shows a bright patch near the glacier terminus; a probable avalanche Some bridges and animals (yaks) were swept away Source Ashim Sattar

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Mauri Pelto

Recent speculation on social media about the flooding seen in Dubai this week has been full of misleading and factually incorrect takes. Here, we explain what happened, why it was extremely predictable, and why cloud seeding didn’t cause the flooding. theeyewall.com/dubious-duba...

Dubious Dubai flooding claims run rampant: What’s the reality?theeyewall.com Recent rainfall and flooding in Dubai of all places has set off a firestorm of misleading, incomplete, and even some bizarre theories on social media. How did this actually happen? Turns out it was…

Reply to

Prof. Stefan Rahmstorf

I remember a conversation with Manabe and Denton in 1987, Manabe noted that an AMOC on/off switch in warming world was going to be different than in a world going from ice age to interglacial. This stemmed from obs. of lack of temp gradient change along the American Cordillera from 14KBP to present.

Equilibrium line altitude variations with latitude, today and during the Late Wisconsinwww.sciencedirect.com Present-day and late Wisconsin glacier equilibrium line altitudes (ELA) were compared on a transect from Patagonia along the coastal Cordillera to Ala…

Lago Guillermo dammed by Upsala Glacier, Argentina, drained in early Jan.2024, did not refill during summer. On April 9, 2024 the lake is 40% reduced in area, false color Sentinel images. Will it refill this winter? #glaciers #climatecrisis glacierchange.blog/2024/01/15/u...

Volcan Overo Glaciers, Argentina lose all snow cover for 3rd consecutive summer. Lack of consistent accumulation zone indicates glaciers cannot survive. #glacier #climatecrisis glacierchange.blog/2024/04/07/v...

Reply to

Aarne Granlund

How extensive is the restored river length? for trout?

Excellent figure 1 would love to see the same maps for 2021 and 2022. These years have illustrated incompatibility of alpine glaciers with frequent heat waves leaving them snow free. glacierchange.blog/2022/05/05/a...

See our new paper in @NatRevEarthEnv on 2023s record breaking heat extremes led by S. Perkins-Kirkpatrick. Heatwaves increasingly occur outside of the warm season, happen simultaneous in multiple regions and affect the same region several times in a year. www.nature.com/articles/s43...

Tupungato Sur Glacier retreat & detachments continue; 1986-2024 Landsat images highlight changes. High snow lines 2021-24 reduing flow to terminus. What does new mt. weather station show? Installed by Nat. Geo. expedition-Baker Perry, Tom Matthews and Gino Casassa. glacierchange.blog/2024/04/01/t...

Overall cold snaps are less frequent since 1980-Zhang et al (2022) is one of many papers that illustrate this. www.nature.com/articles/s43...

In 2018 I noted the diminishing blanket of material in 1987 and 2017 Landsat images. 53 years later there was still cover. In 2023 the glacier is now completely free of this debris cover. glacierchange.blog/2018/05/29/s...

OTD in 1964 south-central Alaska was rocked by a mag 9.2 earthquake, one of the largest ever recorded. It triggered a tsunami that resulted in casualties as far away as California, as well as multiple massive landslides, including onto Sherman Glacier. #GreatAlaskaEarthquake #GoodFridayEarthquake 🧪⚒️

Worked on signage project last year with BC Parks for Great Glacier Provincial Park. Great Glacier, Stikine Icefield BC has retreated 2.1 km since 1986. The ongoing retreat has created a 15 km2 proglacial lake. Snow line near top of glacier in 2018 and 2019. glacierchange.blog/2024/03/24/g...

Mount Daniel, WA straddles boundary of Kittitas & King County. In 1984 there were 8 glaciers around this mountain. In 2023 there are 3 left. This is a collapse that can't be stopped now, Kittitas has also developed Wild Hose Wind PP that has 149 turbines that can generate 273 MW a huge buildup.

I advocate for 50-50: 50% the risks of inaction to things we care about (our kids rather than the Greenland ice sheet, or our favorite sports or food rather than AMOC) and 50% the benefits of climate actions (for our health, well-being, pocketbooks, and for justice, equity, + a better world for all)

Excellent, Figure 5 illustrates that recently El Nino is noticeable noise on top of the large warming signal.

🚨NEW PAPER🚨Investigating the past, present and future responses of Shallap and Zongo Glaciers, Tropical Andes, to the El Niño Southern Oscillation In Journal of Glaciology www.cambridge.org/core/journal...

The rapid loss of snow cover on Eagle Island and Vega Island are good indicators of the AP warm March impact.

Was thinking about your melt plots this morning, we have a small subproject on atmospheric rivers currently, I may take a look into the trajectory in the NWP models - anything of interest there for you? (We have a 1km Res subdomain set up over peninsula so would be relatively easy to do a few runs)

Rapid melt of snowcover on Eagle Island Ice Cap, Antarctica from 2-27-2024 to 3-8-2024 drive by high temperatures. @icesheetmike.bsky.social what does the Antarctic Today melt map show for this area? glacierchange.blog/2024/03/09/e...

#InternationalWomensDay from 2020-2024- 75% of our glacier field expedition team has been women. The North Cascade Glacier Climate Project in its 41st year reaching all glaciers by backpack and is a combined science and art expedition.