If current trends continue, Brooks Range glaciers will disappear over the next century, affecting stream flow regimes, riparian areas, and deltas. In turn, changes in stream habitat will impact local fisheries and the subsistence users who depend on them. To better understand glacier-climate interactions, researchers from the University of Alaska’s Institute of Northern Engineering monitored glaciers in the Hulahula watershed from 2010 through 2014. Their work extended the 50-year mass balance (annual difference between accumulation and loss of material) record for McCall Glacier and initiates investigations of Esetuk Glacier. By integrating the study of the McCall Glacier with long-term research on the impacts of climate change on regional landscape and hydrology, this work provides land managers and subsistence users with information about how loss of glaciers will affect downstream habitat, fish, and wildlife.
