Estimated Wind River Range (Wyoming, USA) Glacier Melt Water Contributions to Agriculture

Remote Sensing

Kyle Cheesbrough¹  Jake Edmunds¹  Glenn Tootle²  Greg Kerr¹ 

[1] University of Wyoming, Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, 1000 East University Avenue, Laramie, WY 82070, USA; E-Mails:;University of Tennessee, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 223 Perkins Hall, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA

关键词: glacier;    Landsat;    glacier meltwater;    area change;   

DOI  :  10.3390/rs1040818

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

In 2008, Wyoming was ranked 8th in barley production and 20th in hay production in the United States and these crops support Wyoming’s $800 million cattle industry. However, with a mean elevation of 2,040 meters, much of Wyoming has a limited crop growing season (as little as 60 days) and relies on late-summer and early-fall streamflow for agricultural water supply. Wyoming is host to over 80 glaciers with the majority of these glaciers being located in the Wind River Range. These “frozen reservoirs” provide a stable source of streamflow (glacier meltwater) during this critical late-summer and early-fall growing season. Given the potential impacts of climate change (increased temperatures resulting in glacier recession), the quantification of glacier meltwater during the late-summer and early-fall growing seasons is needed. Glacier area changes in the WindRiver Range were estimated for 42 glaciers using Landsat data from 1985 to 2005. The total surface area of the 42 glaciers was calculated to be 41.2 ± 11.7 km² in 1985 and 30.8 ± 8.2 km² in 2005, an average decrease of 25% over the 21 year period. Small glaciers experienced noticeably more area reduction than large glaciers. Of the 42 glaciers analyzed, 17 had an area of greater than 0.5 km² in 1985, while 25 were less than 0.5 km² in 1985. The glaciers with a surface area less than 0.5 km² experienced an average surface area loss (fraction of 1985 surface area) of 43%, while the larger glaciers (greater than 0.5 km²) experienced an average surface area loss of 22%. Applying area-volume scaling relationships for glaciers, volume loss was estimated to be 409 × 106 m³ over the 21 year period, which results in an estimated 4% to 10% contribution to warm season (July–October) streamflow.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© 2009 by the authors; licensee Molecular Diversity Preservation International, Basel, Switzerland.