Scientists believed that Alaska’s Columbia Glacier had stopped its rapid retreat in 2011, but recent studies of the area have proven them wrong.
Scientists believed that Alaska’s Columbia Glacier had stopped its rapid retreat in 2011, but recent studies of the area have proven them wrong.
Experts say that the bulk of the receding is occurring in the glacier’s West Branch, but why it’s happening remains unknown.
What they have been able to determine is its rate of movement.
With the help of ground-based radar equipment, the team monitored the glacier’s activity for 8 days in October.
They found that daily there’s between about 15 to 30 feet of movement.
As far as the Columbia Glacier goes, that’s not incredibly rapid, but among glaciers in general it’s quite a quick pace.
Issues were also discovered in the Main Branch of the three-pronged system.
While it’s remained stable since 2012, it’s suspected that its time of steadiness has come to an end.
It appears that its glacial thinning is so advanced that even changes in tidal patterns are affecting the flow.
Said one of the team members, "This behavior makes us think that the Main Branch is once again unstable and possibly due for an episode of very rapid terminus retreat. It's hard to say how soon or likely that retreat is, however, and we've been surprised before."
