Sponsor
US National Park Service Climate Change Program
Published In
Journal of Glaciology
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2-2015
Subjects
Glaciers -- Climatic factors, Climatic changes, Streamflow, Glaciers -- Pacific Northwest, Olympic Mountains (Wash.)
Abstract
The Olympic Peninsula, Washington, USA, currently holds 184 alpine glaciers larger than 0.01 km² and their combined area is 30.2 ± 0.95km². Only four glaciers are >1km² and 120 of the others are -¹ (1900–80) to 0.54 km² a-¹ (1980–2009). Thinning rates on four of the largest glaciers averaged nearly 1ma-¹ from 1987 to 2010, resulting in estimated volume losses of 17–24%. Combined glacial snow, firn and ice melt in the Hoh watershed is in the range 63–79 ± 7 × 106m3, or 9–15% of total May–September streamflow. In the critical August–September period, the glacial fraction of total basin runoff increases to 18–30%, with one-third of the water directly from glacial ice (i.e. not snow and firn). Glaciers in the Elwha basin produce 12–15 ± 1.3 × 106m3 (2.5–4.0%), while those in the Dungeness basin contribute 2.5–3.1 ± 0.28 × 106m3 (3.0–3.8%).
DOI
10.3189/2015JoG14J138
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/15905
Citation Details
RIEDEL, J., WILSON, S., BACCUS, W., LARRABEE, M., FUDGE, T., & FOUNTAIN, A. (2015). Glacier status and contribution to streamflow in the Olympic Mountains, Washington, USA. Journal of Glaciology, 61(225).
Description
To the best of our knowledge, this work was authored as part of the Contributor's official duties as an Employee of the United States Government and is therefore a work of the United States Government in accordance with 17 U.S.C. 105.
Published 2015 by The International Glaciological Society.