48 Years of Alaska Glaciers
Mark Fahnestock, a scientist with the Geological Institute of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has assembled annual mosaics of all the glaciers in Alaska and the Yukon using Landsat images going back to 1972. Using these mosaics, Mark is able to study glacier motion and speed.
All music published by Atmosphere Music Ltd [PRS]: Inducing Waves, composer Ben Niblett [PRS] Jon Cotton [PRS]; Critical Pathway, composer Rik Carter [PRS]; Emerging Discovery, composer Rik Carter [PRS]
Complete transcript available.
Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.
New time-lapse videos of Earth's glaciers and ice sheets as seen from space – spanning nearly 50 years – are providing scientists with new insights into how the planet's frozen regions are changing.
Using images from the Landsat mission dating back to 1972 and continuing through 2019, glaciologist Mark Fahnestock of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has stitched together six-second time-lapses of every glacier in Alaska and the Yukon. The videos clearly illustrate what's happening to Alaska's glaciers in a warming climate. Some show surges that pause for a few years, or lakes forming where ice used to be, or even the debris from landslides making its way to the sea. Other glaciers show patterns that give scientists hints of what drives glacier changes.
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Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Time-lapse videos courtesy of Mark Fahnestock, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks
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Writer
- Kate Ramsayer (Telophase)
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Scientist
- Mark Fahnestock (Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks)
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Producer
- Matthew Radcliff (KBR Wyle Services, LLC)