Wendell Tangborn

Wendell Tangborn
probing snow depths,
South Cascade Glacier, 1962

Wendell Tangborn (born 1927) is an American glaciologist specializing in glacier mass balance measurements since 1960, chiefly within the states of Washington and Alaska of the Pacific Northwest.[1][2] His streamflow forecasting model implements a split-sample calibration approach which greatly improves its accuracy, and eliminates the need for manual measurements such as snow surveys. This model has been utilized by hydroelectric utilities for over thirty years to forecast Columbia River runoff.[3][4] His PTAA glacier balance model requires only routine weather observations and has been successfully applied to calculate the mass balance of glaciers throughout the world, including the Himalayas.[5]

Tangborn's water-balance model, reveals that glaciers store a significant amount of liquid water internally.[6] This has contributed to a current consensus that liquid water in glaciers is a critical element for predicting and understanding the disintegration of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. In addition, he wrote the children’s book, Glaciers, as illustrated by Marc Simont, which introduces children to how and where glaciers form, how they move, and how they shape the land.<ref>Glaciers, Tangborn,W. and Simont, M., Thomas Y Crowell,

See also

References

  1. ↑ A mass balance model that uses low-altitude meteorological observations and the area-altitude distribution of a glacier, Tangborn, W., Geografiska Annuler, 81A, 1999
  2. ↑ Mass balance, runoff and surges of Bering Glacier, Alaska, Tangborn, W. The Cryosphere, 7, 1-9, 2013
  3. ↑ Hydrometeorological model for streamflow prediction, Tangborn, W., USGS Open-File, Report 79-74, 1976.
  4. ↑ Hydrology of the North Cascades Region, Washington: 2. A proposed hydrometeorological streamflow prediction method, Tangborn, W. and Rasmussen, L., Water Resources Research, Vol 12, No. 2, April 1976.
  5. ↑ Mass balance and runoff of the partially debris-covered Langtang Glacier, Nepal, Tangborn.W. and Rana, Birbal, IAHS Publication no. 264 (Debris Covered Glaciers), 2000.
  6. ↑ A Comparison of glacier mass balance by glaciological, hydrological and mapping methods, South Cascade Glacier, Washington, Tangborn, W, Krimmel, R., Meier, M, Snow and Ice Symposium, Proceedings of the Moscow Symposium, August, 1971: IAHS-AISH, Pub. No. 104, 1975.

External links

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