ARS | Publication request: SNOW ACCUMULATION AND MELT, UPPER FREMONT GLACIER, WIND RIVER RANGE, WYOMING, 1997-98

Submitted to: Trans American Geophysical Union
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: November 10, 1998
Publication Date: N/A

Technical Abstract: The U.S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with the Department of Energy, Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory, drilled and extracted a 160-m continuous core form the Upper Fremont Glacier as part of a study of radionuclide fallout and paleoclimate in mid latitudes. To interpret the chemical record in the ice core, estimates of snow accumulation and melt and solute elution from the snow are needed. Automated snow depth information was collected with an ultrasonic snow-depth sensor installed on the glacier in September 1997 to make hourly measurements. Distributed measurements of snow depths were made in March, July, and September 1998. The July measurements included daily snow depth at six ablation stakes, and snow depth measured every 2 days on a 5X5 grid with a 10-m spacing between points. The results at these points show that snow accumulation on the Upper Fremont Glacier is strongly affected by wind deposition on the leeward side of Fremont Peak.