Cirque glaciers are sensitive to climate change and offer unique opportunities for studying fundamental aspects of glacial mechanics. Erosion by these glaciers and the coupled response of adjacent hillslopes govern the long-term evolution of bedrock topography in the divide regions of alpine orogens and contribute sediment into major drainage networks. This project will acquire new measurements of ice flow, microclimate, rock topography, and sediment flux at two cirques in the western North American Cordillera. Data will be interpreted with numerical and conceptual models to constrain the force balance partitioning and basal motion distribution of the glaciers, to identify the primary controls on rock flux, and to establish a baseline of topographic measurement on cirque headwalls for longer-term investigations. The project is a step toward achieving a general understanding of flow and stress regimes of glaciers in cirques, and toward building process-based transport relationships between rock mass flux from cirques and topographic, lithologic, and climatic variables.
