Glacier and climate fluctuations in South-Central Alaska as observed through the PTAA model

Glaciers in Alaska have been increasingly losing mass over the last several decades. This trend is especially apparent in South-Central Alaska where many glaciers are undergoing rapid changes and contributing substantially to rising sea levels (Arendt et al., 2002). It is important to understand the rates at which these glaciers are losing mass as well as the important climatic drivers to better prepare for what the future holds in this region and the rest of the world. This thesis compares glacier mass balance data modeled through the Precipitation-Temperature Area Altitude (PTAA) mass balance model for several glaciers in South-Central Alaska to observed data from the USGS and other sources in order to help validate the model. Once this step is completed, the measured and modeled data are then correlated with climate data in order to understand the main climatic drivers of the glacier mass balance in this region.