Mass Balance Factsheet for the Wolverine Glacier, Alaska
Wolverine Glacier is a valley glacier in the coastal mountains of south-central Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula that experiences a maritime climate with high precipitation rates. This glacier has been classified as one of the ‘reference glaciers’ by the World Glacier Monitoring Service because it has received continuous long-term observations dating back to the year 1965/66. The mean annual air temperature at the long-term ELA of 1170 m is -1.5 °C, as estimated from the Wolverine weather station at 990 m altitude about 0.5 km west of the glacier. The annual average precipitation catch at the weather station is 930 mm and precipitation on the glacier is estimated at about 2800 mm (WGMS, 2011). For additional information on the status of the glacier and on data relating to annual mass balance and other measurements, visit the WGMS Fluctuations of Glaciers Browser.
FACTS:
- Political unit: US
- WGMS ID: 94
- Latitude: 60.40°N
- Longitude: 148.92°W
- Height min: 400 m a.s.l.
- Height max: 1680 m a.s.l.
- Measurement types: MASS BALANCE, THICKNESS CHANGE & FRONT VARIATION
- Current Principal Investigator: SHAD O'NEEL, ROD MARCH & Colleagues
- Current Sponsoring Agency: U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY – WATER RESOURCES DIVISION (FAIRBANKS, US)
Wolverine Glacier in 2013 (taken by L. Sass on 06/11/2013)
Terrestrial and satellite map of Wolverine Glacier (Google Maps)
Wolverine Annual Mass Balance (WGMS, 2016)
Continuous Mass Balance (MB) measurements since 1965/66:
Additional data available: Front Variation (FV), Thickness Change (TC) and Glacier Outlines:
