Seasonal and interannual variability of melt-season albedo at Haig Glacier, Canadian Rocky Mountains

Marshall, Shawn J.; Miller, Kristina

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3249-2020

Articles | Volume 14, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3249-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-3249-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 14, issue 10

Research article

|

02 Oct 2020

Research article |

| 02 Oct 2020

Seasonal and interannual variability of melt-season albedo at Haig Glacier, Canadian Rocky Mountains

Shawn J. Marshall and Kristina Miller

Data sets

Daily meteorological data at Haig Glacier, Canadian Rocky Mountains Marshall, S.J. https://doi.org/10.5683/SP2/7CXPPI

Short summary

Surface-albedo measurements from 2002 to 2017 from Haig Glacier in the Canadian Rockies provide no evidence of long-term trends (i.e., the glacier does not appear to be darkening), but there are large variations in albedo over the melt season and from year to year. The glacier ice is exceptionally dark in association with forest fire fallout but is effectively cleansed by meltwater or rainfall. Summer snowfall plays an important role in refreshing the glacier surface and reducing summer melt.