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Mass Balance, Meteorological, Ice Motion, Surface Altitude, and Runoff Data at Gulkana Glacier, Alaska, 1994 Balance Year

by Rod S. March

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Water-Resources Investigations Report 97-4251

ABSTRACT

The 1994 measured winter snow, maximum winter snow, net, and annual balances in the Gulkana Glacier basin were evaluated on the basis of meteorological, hydrological, and glaciological data obtained in the basin. Averaged over the glacier, the measured winter snow balance was 1.34 meters on April 29, 1994, 0.9 standard deviation above the long-term average; the maximum winter snow balance, 1.43 meters, was reached on April 18, 1994; the net balance (from September 8, 1993 to September 17, 1994) was -0.72 meter, 0.7 standard deviation below the long-term average. The annual balance (October 1, 1992, to September 30, 1993) was -0.88 meter. Ice-surface motion and altitude changes measured at three index sites document seasonal ice speed and glacier-thickness changes. Annual stream runoff was 1.93 meters averaged over the basin, approximately equal to the long-term average.

March, R.S., 1998, Mass balance, meteorological, ice motion, surface altitude, and runoff data at Gulkana Glacier, Alaska, 1994 balance year: U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 97-4251, 31 p.

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