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Day thirty-one

03 Jan 2019

The Marr Ice Piedmont glacier:

The glacier that has retreated behind Palmer Station (located on Anvers Island) is called the Marr Ice Piedmont. Here I am standing on top of the glacier, with the mountains of the Antarctic Peninsula behind me.

Historic photo of Palmer station and glacier

The glacier edge abutted the station back in the 1960s. Below is a historic photograph showing how close it was to the main two buildings, courtesy of the National Science Foundation. We currently have a building (Terra Lab) that would have been right by the edge of this magnificent glacier (it covers most of Anvers Island).

Historic photo of Palmer station and glacier

Personnel at Palmer Station have been carefully monitoring the glacier’s retreat over time, including Marissa Goerke. Below is a figure from Palmer Station that shows where the glacier edge was at different time points. The units are in meters. See if you can find out when the above photo was taken based on the lines in the figure.

Historic photo of Palmer station and glacier

If you guessed the photo was taken around 1975, you would be correct. You can also see that the glacier has retreated about 500 meters since then. And the newly exposed area, now free of glacial ice, is my main study site.

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