Llewellyn Glacier Fluctuations Over Two Millennia

Radiocarbon and dendrochronological dating of subfossil wood provides a record of Llewellyn Glacier fluctuations over the past two millennia. The north lobe advanced sometime between AD 260 and AD 505, and reached near its Little Ice Age limit by the 17th century. This dataset from the Government of Yukon provides new information on timing and frequency to assist modeling future impacts on glacial meltwater and hydroelectric security.

Use Cases

• Modeling future glacier meltwater contributions to rivers based on historical fluctuation records.
• Assessing hydroelectric power security risks based on glacier retreat and advance timing.
• Correlating glacier fluctuations with broader climate change indicators over the past two millennia.
• Calibrating dendrochronological and radiocarbon dating methods for paleoclimate studies.
• Analyzing the frequency of glacier advances between the First Millennium and Little Ice Age periods.

Strengths

• Provides a record of glacier fluctuations spanning the past two millennia.
• Uses radiocarbon and dendrochronological dating methods for temporal precision.
• Specifically identifies an advance period between AD 260 and AD 505.
• Indicates the north lobe reached within 70 meters of its Little Ice Age maximum by the 17th century.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to a single glacier study.

Provenance

Source

Government of Yukon

Collection Method

Examination of lateral moraine stratigraphy, and radiocarbon and dendrochronological dating of in situ and detrital subfossil wood.

Time Range

Past two millennia, with specific events between AD 260 and AD 505 and in the 17th century.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-17 16:02:21.661141; freshness should be verified.

Geography

North lobe of Llewellyn Glacier, Upper Yukon River Basin.