From a Glaciers Perspective

Grand Plateau Glacier drains southwest from Mount Fairweather in southeast Alaska. The glacier advanced during the Little Ice age to the Alaskan coastline. Early maps from 1908 show no lake at the terminus of the glacier. The 1948 map shows three small distinct lakes. By 1966 the glacier had retreated enough for the formation of one lake. The map view of the glacier indicates the terminus position at the time. . Contrast the narrow nature of the terminus lake to the more current situation in Google Earth with a 2004 view for the northern part of the terminus and a 2009 view for the southern portion. The retreat from 2004-2009 is evident in the offset at the image boundary. The offset of the terminus is 300-350 m indicating a five year retreat rate of 75-90 meters per year. This rate if versus the long term retreat of from the 1948 map position of 3100 meters, a rate of 60 meters per year. The retreat has been driven by higher snowlines in recent years, the snowline had been reported at 3400 feet in the 1950′s. Satellite imagery of the last decade indicates snowlines averaging 4800 feet. The retreat is also evident in imagery from a distributary terminus tongue of the glacier which has retreated 2100 meters since 1948.
The glacier snowline is evident in Landsat imagery available from the USGS in 1986, note the size of the terminus lake also, 2007 and 2009.
. The combination of higher snowlines and increased calving into the terminus lake will continue to lead to retreat of this still mighty river of ice.