Jordan Allen

Years participated in RESESS: 2011

Poster

An Overview

Academic Affiliation: Savannah State University

Biography

Jordan grew up in Atlanta, Georgia, and moved to the small town of Cuthbert, GA during 8th grade. He attends Savannah State University and majors in Environmental Science. He grew up as a Boy Scout, which sparked a great interest in the outdoors. During his first year in college he took Introduction to Environmental Science, which opened his eyes to environmental issues. He is especially interested in climate change, geology, and energy sustainability. He enjoys spending time with family, laughing, working out, and doing community service.

Abstract

100 year record of glacier retreat in North America

Glaciers grow and shrink in response to changes in snowfall and air temperature, two atmospheric phenomena strongly impacted by global warming. We hypothesize that glaciers decreased in length over the last 100 years across in western North America where the rate of warming is twice the rate at lower latitudes. Glacier length records were obtained by measuring and comparing the lengths of eight glaciers on maps made in 1957 with aerial photographs on Google Earth dating from 2005. Length measurements showed uncertainties of 50-200 m. We also analyzed time-series photographs of 46 North American glaciers from the U.S. Geological Survey, and the Glaciers of the American West Project to determine a change in glaciers prior to the monitoring interval that began in the 1950s. Repeat photography photos showed a change in glaciers between 1900-2005, notably revealing retreat prior to the monitoring interval. We conclude from the photo and length data that all glaciers examined are retreating across North America.