Competing Positive and Negative Feedbacks on Glacier Response to Climatic Changes

The adiabatic temperature lapse rate imparts a well-studied positive feedback on glacier changes in response to a given change in climate. For example, if temperature increases, the surface of the glacier thins into the warmer temperatures of the lower surface elevation, dependent upon the local lapse rate, which amplifies the glacier response to the original temperature. However, a less well-quantified negative feedback can also be at play. As the length and thickness of a valley glacier changes, the percentage of the glacier surface that is shaded changes as well, decreasing the incident shortwave radiation at the surface. Assuming turbulent heat fluxes are small, the balance between changing downward longwave radiation (adiabatic lapse rate effect) and shortwave radiation (shading effect) in response to a climatic change will determine the equilibrium glacier profile for the new climate state. Here we use an energy balance model to determine the sensitivity of glacial retreat reconstructions to both the temperature lapse rate and the shading by valley topography. We quantify the effect of shading and lapse rates on idealized glaciers and topography, and assess under what conditions one or the other feedback mechanism is expected to dominate the change in energy balance. We then examine the effect of temperature lapse rates and increased shading on a paleoglacier at Monroe Peak, in the Sevier Plateau, Utah. Although the peak is currently ice-free, lateral moraines on Monroe Peak show that a glacier once extended approximately 4000 m from a 4700 m high headwall on the western side of the peak. Preliminary results suggest that as the glacier retreated from its maximum position, increased shading had a significant positive effect on glacial mass balance which partially compensated for the lapse rate feedback. These preliminary results suggest that reconstructions of smaller glaciers surrounded by steep topography must account for changes in shading of the glacier surface.