Dramatic thinning of Alaskan river ice and its climatic controls

Yang, Ruimin; Zhang, Tingjun

doi:10.1016/j.accre.2022.08.001

Cited by 4 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…In the US there were only a few studies that have evaluated historical trends in river ice (Hodgkins et al 2005;Huntington et al 2003;Newton and Mullan 2021;White et al 2007;Yang and Zhang 2022). Ice phenology studies in Alaska have been performed (Arp et al 2013), but not within the context of a statewide assessment of how climate change is impacting ice cover duration.…”

Section: Studies In United Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Huntington et al (2003) found the average ice thickness in Maine has decreased by approximately 23 cm from 1912-2001. A recent study evaluating how climate change has impacted ice thickness in Alaska which reports the mean maximum river ice thickness has decreased at a rate of 0.26 cm per year between 1961 and 2015 (Yang and Zhang 2022). This results in over 14 cm of mean maximum river ice thickness during that 55-year period.…”

Section: Studies In United Statesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Summary of ice jams and mitigation techniques in Alaska

Giovando¹,

Engel²,

Vandevort³

et al. 2023

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Ice is an important part of the Alaska ecosystems and can form through dynamic (e.g., frazil) or static (e.g., thermal) processes. In Alaska, both freeze-up and breakup ice jams occur, however breakup jams during the spring snowmelt period are most common. Historically there have been many river systems in Alaska that have chronic ice jam issues. These ice jams have resulted in several significant ice jam floods. There are ice jam mitigation techniques that can be used to either provide state and local emergency managers warnings of a potential ice jam or reduce the impacts of a jam. Common relatively low-cost mitigation methods that can be implemented prior to a jam forming are monitoring and detection of movement, mechanical or thermal weakening of the ice cover. Permanent measures are also effective and maybe the best option in specific locations. These measures include structures to keep flood waters from inundating areas (e.g., levee) or they can be designed to hold back ice fragments moving downstream (e.g., ice boom and pier structures). Climate change impacts to ice processes are important for Alaska and additional investigations will be needed to quantify the ecologic, hydrologic, and societal impacts.

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