Alaska Snow Cover Variability

Overview

The Alaska and northwest Canada region is home the world's largest concentration of mountain glaciers outside of Greenland and Antarctica. These rate at which these glaciers are melting makes them one of the largest active contributors to sea level rise, and their continued retreat will have wide-ranging impacts on local downstream environments. The rate of glacier retreat (or "glacier health") is highly variable across the region, and even neighboring glaciers can show contrasting changes. Some of these differences can be attributed to the glaciers' distinct geometries. Glaciers which are in positions to receive more snow accumulation (for example, glaciers with more of their area at higher elevations) are less likely to retreat quickly. But glaciers which receive less snow are more likely to show signs of accelerated thinning and retreat.

As part of my PhD research, I used Sentinel-2 satellite imagery to identify glaciers' end-of-summer accumulation area (the areas which are covered with snow at the end of the summer). By doing this, I aim to identify the topographic and climatological factors which control the variability in "glacier health" which we observe.

Publications:

Zeller, L., D. McGrath, L. Sass, C. Florentine, J. Downs. Equilibrium line altitudes, accumulation areas and the vulnerability of glaciers in Alaska. Journal of Glaciology, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1017/jog.2024.65

Presentations

Zeller, L., D. McGrath, C. Florentine, L. Sass., J. Downs. 2023. Glacier Snow Line Variability in Alaska Across Space and Time. Poster: AGU 2023 Fall Meeting, San Francisco [PDF]

Zeller, L., D. McGrath, C. Florentine, L. Sass. 2022. Automated delineation of accumulation areas on Alaskan glaciers from satellite imagery, 1984‑2021. Poster: IGS Symposium on Maritime Maritime Glaciers, Juneau, AK [PDF]