Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-94d59 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-19T02:38:22.523Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Recent changes in the glaciers of Heard Island

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 October 2009

Ian F. Allison
Affiliation:
Antarctic Division, Department of Science, Kingston, Tasmania 7150, Australia
Peter L. Keage
Affiliation:
Antarctic Division, Department of Science, Kingston, Tasmania 7150, Australia

Abstract

Heard Island, a heavily glacierized volcanic island in the Southern Ocean, is 80% ice-covered, with glaciers descending from 2,400 m to sea level: major glaciers are up to 7 km long with areas exceeding 10 km. Much of the island was photographed from the air in 1947 and again in early 1980. Photographs and limited ground surveys record changes (mostly retreats) in glacier fronts. Retreat is most marked on the eastern flanks where former tidewater glaciers are now grounded inland. Glaciers on northern and windward western flanks still end in ice cliffs but have narrowed; glaciers and ice caps on Laurens Peninsula (maximum elevation 710 m) are up to 65% smaller. Nearby lies Kerguelen and other southern islands with long climatic records have warrned significantly since the early 1960s. Surface and upper-air climatic data from Heard Island 1947–54 and records from automatic weather stations 1980–82 suggest that Heard too has warmed slightly, concurrently with a possible northward shift of low-pressure system tracks in this region. Temperatures have remained above average through the early 1980s and glacier retreat is expected to continue.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allison, I. F. 1980. A preliminary investigation of the physical characteristics of the Vahsel Glacier, Heard Island. ANARE Scientific Reports Series A(4); Glaciology. Publication 128. Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service.Google Scholar
Allison, I. F. and Kruss, P. 1977. Estimation of recent climate change in Irian Jaya by numerical modelling of its tropical glaciers. Arctic and Alpine Research 9(1): 4960.Google Scholar
Allison, I. F. and Morrissy, J. V. 1981. Automatic meteorological stations and data buoys in the Antarctic-recent Australian experience. In Antarctica: weather and climate, preprint volume of the Melbourne symposium, May 1981: 315. Melbourne, Royal Meteorological Society, Australian Branch.Google Scholar
Australian National Antarctic Research Expedition. 19481954. ANARE Reports, Series D, Meteorology.Google Scholar
Bauer, A. 1963. Les glaciers des Iles Kerguelen. CNFRA 2: 175.Google Scholar
Budd, G. M. 1964. The ANARE 1963 expedition to Heard Island. ANARE Reports, Series A. Publication 74.Google Scholar
Budd, G. M. 1970. Heard Island reconnaissance, 1969. Polar Record 15(96): 335.Google Scholar
Budd, G. M. and Stephenson, P. J. 1970. Recent glacier retreat on Heard Island. In Gow, A. J. and others (editors). Proceedings of the International Symposium on Antarctic Glaciological Exploration, Hanover NH, 1968: 449–58. IAHS Publication 86.Google Scholar
Budd, W. F. and Allison, I. F. 1975. An empirical scheme for estimating the dynamics of unmeasured glaciers. Snow and ice symposium: 246–56. IASH- AISH Publication 104.Google Scholar
Dansgaard, W. 1961. The isotopic composition of natural waters with special reference to the Greenland Ice Cap. Meddelelser om Grønland 165(2), 120pp.Google Scholar
Gibbs, W. J. and others. 1952. Heard and Macquarie Islands, 1948. Part l(c) Discussion. ANARE Reports, Series D, Meteorology, Vol 1.Google Scholar
Jacka, T. H. and others. 1984. A data bank of mean monthly and annual surface temperatures for Antarctica, the Southern Ocean and South Pacific Ocean. ANARE Research Notes 22.Google Scholar
Kasser, P. 1973. Fluctuations of glaciers: 1965–1970. Permanent Service on the Fluctuations of Glaciers of the IUGG-FAGS/ICSU. IAHS/UNESCO.Google Scholar
Keage, P. L. 1981. The conservation status of Heard Island and the McDonald Islands. Hobart, University of Tasmania, Centre for Environmental Studies, Occasional Paper 13.Google Scholar
Kep, S. L. 1984. A climatology of cyclogenesis, cyclone tracks and cycloysis in the Southern Hemisphere for the period 1972–1981. Melbourne, University of Melbourne Meteorology Department.Google Scholar
Kuhn, M. 1981. Climate and glaciers. In Allison, I. (editor). Sea level, ice and climatic change: 320. IAHS Publication 131.Google Scholar
Lambeth, A. J. 1951. Heard Island, geography and glaciology. Journal of Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales 84: 9298.Google Scholar
Law, P. G. and Burstall, T. 1953. Heard Island. ANARE Interim Reports 7.Google Scholar
Loewe, F. 1957. A note on seawater temperatures at Macquarie I. Australian Meteorological Magazine 19: 60.Google Scholar
Maher, J. V. and McRae, J. N. 1966. Upper air statistics, Australia: temperature, humidity and geopotential surface to 60 mb, 0400 GMT, 1953–1956. Melbourne, Bureau of Meteorology.Google Scholar
Mellor, M. 1967. Mass economy of Antarctica: measurements at Mawson, 1957. ANARE Scientific Reports; Series A(4), Glaciology. Publication 97.Google Scholar
Morgan, V. I. 1981. Oxygen isotope ratios, accumulation and Antarctic temperatures. In Antarctica: weather and climate, preprint volume of the Melbourne symposium, May 1981: 117–21. Melbourne, Royal Meteorological Society, Australian Branch.Google Scholar
Muller, F. 1977. Fluctuations of glaciers: 1970–1975. Permanent Service on the Fluctuations of Glaciers of the IUGG-FAGS/ICSU. IAHS/UNESCO.Google Scholar
Padang, M. N. van. 1963. The volcanoes of the southern part of the Indian Ocean. In Catalogue of the active volcanoes of the world including solfatara fields. Pt XVI. Arabia and the Indian Ocean. Leeds, International Association of Volcanology.Google Scholar
Paltridge, G. and Woodruff, S. 1981. Changes in global surface temperature from 1880 to 1977 derived from historical records of sea surface temperature. Monthly Weather Review 109(12): 2427–34.Google Scholar
Quilty, P. G. and others. 1983. Microfossil evidence for the age and environment of deposition of sediments of Heard and McDonald Islands. In Oliver, R. L. and others (editors). Antarctic earth science. Canberra, Australian Academy of Science.Google Scholar
Radok, U. and Watts, D. 1975. A synoptic background to glacier variations of Heard Island. Snow and ice symposium: 42–56. IAHS-AISH Publication 104.Google Scholar
Streten, N. 1980. Some synoptic indices of the Southern Hemisphere mean sea level circulation 1972–77. Monthly Weather Review 108(1): 1836.Google Scholar
Taljaard, J. J. and Van Loon, H. 1984. Climate of the Indian Ocean south of 35S. In Van Loon, H. (editor). Climates of the oceans: 505601. Vol 15 of Landsberg H. E. (editor-in-chief). World Survey of Climatology. Amsterdam, Elsevier.Google Scholar
Taljaard, J. J. and others 1969. Climate of the upper air: Southern Hemisphere, vol 1. Temperatures, dew points, and heights at selected pressure levels. Washington, NAVAER 50−1C-55.Google Scholar
Van Loon, H. 1972. Cloudiness and precipitation in the Southern Hemisphere. In Newton, C. W. (editor). Meteorology of the Southern Hemisphere. American Meteorological Society Monograph 13: 1101–12.Google Scholar
Vallon, M. 1977. Bilan de masse et fluctuations récentes du Glacier Ampére (Iles Kerguelen, TAAF). Zeitschrift für Gletscher kunde und Glazialgeologie 13: 5785.Google Scholar
Williams, R. and Duhamel, G. 1986. Volcanic activity on Heard Island. Polar Record 23(142): 8890.Google Scholar