UNBC PhD candidate Ben Pelto and his research team performed a multi-year evaluation of glaciers in the Columbia and Rocky Mountains. Their seasonal field measurement of winter snowfall and summer melt, complemented with aerial surveying, provide an accurate glimpse of glacier mass change. These estimates can be used to predict future glacier response to climate change.
For Ben Pelto, a study in glacier changes compares to a bank account. For example, a bank account that is losing money is like a retreating glacier. Snowfall during the winter months is like depositing money into the bank account, and snowmelt during warmer weather is like making a withdrawal. Pelto, a PhD candidate in the Geography Program at the University of Northern British Columbia, wanted to track just how much change was taking place in glacier mass in the Columbia River basin.
“Changes in glacier mass are the direct response to meteorological conditions during the accumulation and melt seasons,” Pelto explains. “We derived multi-year, seasonal mass balance from airborne laser scanning surveys and compared them to field measurements for six glaciers in the Columbia and Rocky Mountains.”
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Image via University of Northern British Columbia.