Accelerating thinning of Kenai Peninsula glaciers, Alaska

Temperate mountain glaciers are thinning at high rates and significantly contributing to sea level rise. Due to these glaciers' remote locations, remote sensing and digital elevation models (DEMs) are an effective way to calculate their thinning rates and contribution to sea level rise. Comparisons of 1950s United States Geological Survey (USGS) and 2000 Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) DEMs with DEMs produced from Lidar profiles of glacier center-lines indicate thinning rates from the mid-1990s to 1999 (-0.72 +/- 0.13 m y(-1)) accelerated by a factor of 1.5 as compared with 1950 to mid-1990s (-0.47 +/- 0.01 m y(-1)) for glaciers on the Harding Icefield. Overall, comparison of USGS and SRTM DEMs indicate the Harding Icefield and Grewingk-Yalik Glacier Complex, Alaska, are thinning -0.61 +/- 0.12 m y(-1) from 1950 to 1999.