Sheridan Glacier, Alaska Retreat Causing Lake Expansion 2002-2026

Retreat of Sheridan Glacier and expansion of Sheridan Lake from 2002-2026 in Landsat images. Lake has expanded from 3.8 to 13.5 km2, due to 2.25 km retreat. .Sheridan Glacier in the Chugach Mountains of Alaska flows southwest out of the mountains onto a terminus plain where it has gouged out a lake basin that expands as the glacier retreats. Sheridan Lake is a proglacial lake at the terminus that drains into the Sheridan River that 12 km later reaches tidewater. From 1950 to 2000 Sheridan Glacier experienced modest retreat, with a fringing proglacial Sheridan Lake persisting. Then a rapid retreat accompanied a terminus disintegration from 2000-2016. (Shugar et al 2018). This led to lake expansion that is ongoing in 2026. In 2002 the proglacial lake had an area of 3.8 km2, with the terminus crossing one small island in the lake. The snowline was at 750 m. In 2013 there is a 4 km2 terminus area that has disintegrated, the terminus has retreated off of the island. By 2016 the terminus…

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