Change in equilibrium-line altitude (ΔELA) for 215 Alaskan glaciers from the Little Ice Age (LIA) maximum to present (2016 to 2024)

The study associated with this dataset evaluates the climatic signature of the Little Ice Age (LIA; ~1250 to 1900) relative to the present (2016–2024) by reconstructing shifts in equilibrium-line altitude (ΔELA), a climate-sensitive parameter, for 215 glaciers in Alaska and adjacent Canada (southwest Yukon and northwest British Columbia) using remote sensing and a suite of geographic information system (GIS) tools. We quantify the magnitude and spatial pattern of ΔELA across Alaska’s major glaciated regions to infer centennial-scale changes in temperature and precipitation and to examine links with synoptic-scale circulation associated with the Aleutian Low. Data were generated in 2024–2025 at Arizona State University and Northern Arizona University as part of the NSF-funded PROGLACIAL project. The dataset includes reconstructed LIA maximum ELAs, modern end-of-summer snowline altitudes (2016–2024), and LIA–present ΔELA for 215 glaciers. LIA glacier extents were compiled from published sources and additional mapping of geomorphic evidence (terminal moraines, trimlines) using the ESRI World Imagery basemap; LIA glacier surfaces and ELAs were modeled using the GlaRe and PalaeoIce GIS toolboxes; and modern snowline altitudes were manually mapped in Sentinel-2 satellite imagery (2016-2024) and associated elevation extracted from the ArcticDEM (10 meter mosaic product).

本数据集关联的研究以遥感技术与一套地理信息系统（GIS）工具，针对阿拉斯加及毗邻加拿大区域（育空西南部与不列颠哥伦比亚省西北部）的215条冰川，重建了气候敏感参数平衡线高度（equilibrium-line altitude, ELA）的变化量（ΔELA），以此对比评估小冰期（Little Ice Age, LIA；约1250年至1900年）与当代（2016–2024年）的气候特征。本研究量化了阿拉斯加主要冰川发育区域内ΔELA的变化幅度与空间格局，以推断百年尺度的气温与降水变化，并探究其与阿留申低压相关的天气尺度环流的关联。本数据集于2024–2025年由亚利桑那州立大学与北亚利桑那大学生成，作为美国国家科学基金会（National Science Foundation, NSF）资助的PROGLACIAL项目的组成部分。该数据集包含215条冰川的小冰期最大ELA重建结果、当代夏末雪线海拔（2016–2024年），以及小冰期至当代的ΔELA值。小冰期冰川范围整合自已发表文献与利用ESRI世界影像底图解译的地貌证据（终碛垄、trimline）；小冰期冰川表面与ELA通过GlaRe和PalaeoIce GIS工具箱建模得到；现代雪线海拔通过手动勾绘Sentinel-2卫星影像（2016–2024年）中的雪线，并从ArcticDEM（10米镶嵌产品）提取对应高程获取。