Photo 1: Denny Straussfogel (left) and Rob Sidjak (right) ascend
Castle Creek Glacier to
assess retained snowfall at upper elevations. September
13, 2009
In four field expeditions from May to September Matt Beedle,
along with a large supporting cast, continued fieldwork on Castle Creek and
Kwadacha glaciers. Studies of Castle Creek and Kwadacha glaciers were initiated
in August 2007 as a part of the Western Canadian Cryospheric Network, and are
the first detailed studies of glaciers in the Cariboo and northern Rockies
respectively.For more information on
these two sites please see Matt’s website:http://web.unbc.ca/~beedlem
Processing of field data is ongoing, but generally the warm
summer of 2009 lead to significant losses of glacier volume in British
Columbia.Extended periods of above
average temperatures, especially in July and September, trumped above average
winter snowfall at both sites.
This work would not be possible without the significant
efforts of numerous volunteers.Matt
would like to thank Denny Straussfogel, Roger Wheate, Rob Sidjak, Brian
Menounos, Theo Mylnowski, Sonja Ostertag, Stephen Dery, and Marco Hernandez for
phenomenal physical efforts and commitments of personal time.Their enthusiastic support is much
appreciated!
Photo 2:Theo Mylnowski (left) and Stephen Dery (right) next to the
lowest ablation stake on Castle Creek Glacier.
Ablation stakes are used to measure ice melt (ablation) at the surface
of a glacier. As ice ablates during
summer more of the stake is exposed.
Repeat measurements yield ice loss.
This picture was taken July 4, 2009.
By mid-September this stake revealed 4.5 meters of vertical ice ablation
during the summer of 2009.
Photo 3: Castle Creek Glacier. September 15, 2009
Photo 4: Denny Straussfogel peers down into a 4.5-meter deep snow pit
dug at the upper elevations of Castle Creek Glacier on May 6, 2009. By September 13, retained snow depth at upper
elevations was reduced to 1.5 meters.
Snow pits such as this, as well as probing of snow depths, are used to
assess accumulation, or mass gain to a glacier.
If you are interested in volunteering for the 2010 field
season please get in touch with Matt:beedlem@unbc.ca
