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Alaska Climate Variation

Peggy,

I was looking through your pictures... what a beautiful area!!! As I was looking at the pics of your hike at Greyling Glacier it made me wonder if you know anything about if they are retreating much and if so how much?

Sure enjoying your journals.

Kirk 

Wed, 08/15/2007 - 13:52

Peggy Foletta

Hi Kirk. Caleb tells me they are retreating and he is contacting a fellow graduate student who has the data on that glacier. I'll get back to you when we hear. They have been looking at aerial photographs of the glacier since 1950 and are measuring the diameter of lichen growth from the glacier's edge in the direction away from the glacier where the rock is exposed. They are correlating glacier retreat and lichen growth. Lichens start growing as the glacier recedes as the beginning of ecological succession and their diameter is a measure of lichen age.
Good to hear from you! Peggy