48 Years of Alaska's Glaciers

New time-lapse videos of Earth’s glaciers and ice sheets as seen from space – spanning nearly 50 years – are providing scientists with new insights into how the planet’s frozen regions are changing. Using images from the NASA-USGS Landsat program dating back to 1972 and continuing through 2019, glaciologist Mark Fahnestock of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, has stitched together six-second time-lapses of every glacier in Alaska and the Yukon. The videos clearly illustrate what’s happening to Alaska’s glaciers in a warming climate. Some show surges that pause for a few years, or lakes forming where ice used to be, or even the debris from landslides making its way to the sea. Other glaciers show patterns that give scientists hints of what drives glacier changes. Music credits: Inducing Waves, composer Ben Niblett [PRS] Jon Cotton [PRS]; Critical Pathway, composer Rik Carter [PRS]; Emerging Discovery, composer Rik Carter [PRS], all published by Atmosphere Music Ltd [PRS]. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Time-lapse videos courtesy of Mark Fahnestock, Geophysical Institute, University of Alaska Fairbanks Matthew R. Radcliff (USRA): Producer Kate Ramsayer (Telophase): Writer Chapters View all Alsek Glacier 0:17 Klutlan Glacier 0:37 Taku Glacier 0:53 Grand Plateau Glacier 1:04 Hubbard Glacier 1:27 Walsh and Logan Glaciers 1:57