NELLIE JUAN GLACIER

These pages describe the glacial history and paleoclimatic record at Nellie Juan Glacier in south-central Alaska.  These studies are possible at this location because of the exceptional preservation of glacially scarred and overrun trees along the margins of the fjord.  Tree-ring series from these damaged and dead trees record when they were hit by the advancing glacier, and so allow the most recent advance and maximum stand of Nellie Juan Glacier to be reconstructed in considerable detail.  Furthermore, these tree-rings are a record of climate in this area and can be used to infer how climate has changed in south-central Alaska during the past 850 years.

The data described in these pages were collected by David Barclay and James Milligan in July 2000, and by Greg Wiles, Parker Calkin and Dino Maraldo in 1992.  The results of this project were published in 2003 in Annals of Glaciology and 1999 in The Holocene (see citations below).
 

Disclaimers and acknowledgements:

"The views and opinions expressed in this page are strictly those of the page author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by SUNY Cortland."

Scenic Mountain Air provided floatplane transportation into the field and a place to stay while we waited for the weather to cooperate.

Citations and use of images:

Information in these web pages is abridged from the following publications:

• Barclay, David J., Wiles, Gregory C., and Calkin, Parker E., 2003, An 850 year record of climate and fluctuations of the iceberg-calving Nellie Juan Glacier, south central Alaska, U.S.A.: Annals of Glaciology, v. 36, p. 51-56.
• Wiles, Gregory C., Barclay, David J., and Calkin, Parker E., 1999, Tree-ring-dated "Little Ice Age" histories of maritime glaciers from western Prince William Sound, Alaska: The Holocene, v. 9, p. 163-173.

Commercial use of images from these pages is not allowed without permission.  Temporary use for educational purposes is ok.

These web pages were originally developed in spring 2001, and were updated and revised in February 2004.