Observations of Dynamic Changes at an Advancing Tidewater Glacier: Hubbard Glacier, Southeast Alaska

Abstract:

Hubbard Glacier, located in southeast Alaska, is the largest non-polar tidewater glacier in the world and one of a small number of glaciers that is steadily advancing. These attributes make it an intriguing target for observations of variations in ice dynamics over time. We use synthetic aperture radar data (ALOS and TerraSAR-X) and high-resolution optical imagery (WorldView and Quickbird) with a pixel tracking technique to map surface velocities from 2008 to the present, lengthening and broadening the time series of ice velocities presented in previous studies.

A key result from our analysis is that Hubbard displays peak speeds of up to 12 m/day during the winter months (December – February) and minimum speeds during late summer (August – September). The times of peak and minimum speeds is quite different from those found in previous studies of Hubbard surface velocities derived from Landsat imagery, GPS, and photogrammetric methods. Those studies found peak speeds during late spring (May – June) and minimum speeds in fall (October-November), a pattern observed generally at tidewater glaciers.

A second major feature we observe in our time series is the dramatic seasonal variation in surface speeds. The minimum speeds we find along the terminal lobe of the glacier are much lower than those found in previous studies, with values decreasing to near zero. Such a dramatic slow down of a tidewater glacier has not been widely observed. This result, along with the recent pattern of seasonal velocity peaks and minimas, suggests that Hubbard has undergone a change in ice dynamics.