Cryosphere: Earth’s Snow, Ice, and Permafrost
Cryosphere: Earth’s Snow, Ice, and Permafrost
The Arctic and frozen lands are experiencing rapid changes and play large roles in infrastructure, natural resources, and regulation of global climate. The Climate R&D Program conducts research to improve our understanding of avalanches, permafrost, glaciers, and sea ice, and their response to changing climates in the past, present, and future.
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Reconstructing Ancient Human and Ecosystem Responses to Holocene Climate Conditions
This research project will reconstruct Holocene climatic conditions to better understand human adaptation and response to past environmental variability.
Terrestrial Records of Holocene Climate Change: Fire, climate and humans
Large wildfires have raged across the western Americas in the past decade including the Las Conchas, New Mexico fire that burned 44,000 acres in a single day in 2011 (Orem and Pelletier, 2015, Geomorphology 232: 224-238, and references therein), the 2016 Fort McMurray, Alberta fire that required evacuating an entire city, and the 2015 Alaskan fire season that burned more than 5 million acres...
Going-to-the-Sun Road Avalanche Forecasting Program
As the most popular attraction in Glacier National Park (GNP), the Going-to-the-Sun Road traverses scenic alpine zones and crosses the Continental Divide at Logan Pass (2026m or 6,647' elevation). The Park closes a 56km (34.8 mile) section of the road each winter due to inclement weather, heavy snowfall, and avalanche hazards. Annual spring opening of the road is a highly anticipated event for...
Snow and Avalanche Research
Snow scientists with the USGS are unraveling specific weather, climate, and snowpack factors that contribute to large magnitude avalanches in an effort to understand these events as both a hazard and a landscape–level disturbance. The Snow and Avalanche Project (SNAP) advances our understanding of avalanche-climate interactions and wet snow avalanches, and improves public safety through innovative...