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Wendell Tangborn (August 22, 1927 – October 3, 2020) was an American glaciologist specializing in glacier mass balance measurements since 1960, chiefly
within the states of Washington and Alaska of the Pacific Northwest.  His streamflow forecasting model implemented a split-sample calibration approach which
[1][2]

greatly improved its accuracy, and eliminated 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.  His PTAA glacier balance model required only routine weather observations and has been successfully
[3][4]

applied to calculate the mass balance of glaciers throughout the world, including the Himalayas. [5][6]

Tangborn worked on a project based on the PTAAGMB Model to study and provide glacier mass balances for 150 or more glaciers around the world, The
PTAAGMB Project (ptaagmb.com). He also made an effort to provide the PTAAGMB model technologies to other glaciologists and scientists, to help promote
understanding and awareness of what is happening to the world's glaciers, and to help provide data that could demonstrate links between climate change and
human activities.

Tangborn co-authored, among many other papers, a seminal paper that examined the hydrological budget of South Cascade Glacier (Tangborn and others, 1975).
By measuring precipitation and snowmelt in the basin, the mass balance of the glacier, and the glacial runoff, he showed that the glacier stored significant volumes
of water not only for weeks but perhaps for months. This was one of the few papers to quantify the hydrologic balance of a temperate glacier.  Ahead of its time, it
preceded by years our general understanding of increased winter and spring water storage within temperate glaciers. The intent of the paper, however, was to
compare three different and commonly used methods of estimating glacier mass balance (the glaciological, hydrological and geodetic methods).  As a result of the [7]

water storage processes discovered by Tangborn, this paper 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.

Tangborn wrote the children’s book, Glaciers (recently translated into Chinese ), as illustrated by Marc Simont, which introduced children to how and where
[8]

glaciers form, how they move, and how they shape the land. [9]

Wendell is the brother of Army Silver Star recipient, Virgil John Tangborn, in whose memory Wendell published the book Appointment in Amfreville: A Memoir of
Virgil Tangborn, in 2016. [10]

See also[edit]

 Glacier mass balance

 Global warming

 Greenland Ice Sheet Project

 PTAA GMB Model

References[edit]

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. ^ "Wendell Verner Tangborn". The Seattle Times. Retrieved 31 December 2020.
7. ^ 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.
8. ^ Glaciers: Chinese Version (2017) Kindle ebook.
9. ^ Glaciers, Tangborn,W. and Simont, M., Thomas Y Crowell, New York, 1988.
10. ^ Appointment in Amfreville: A Memoir of Virgil Tangborn (2016) Kindle ebook

External links[edit]

 All About Glaciers: Further reading National Snow and Ice Data Center

 The PTAA Glacier Mass Balance Project "glaciers may be melting away at an unprecedented rate."

 Wendell Tangborn, The Guardian

 Wendell Tangborn Biography @HyMet.com

Categories: 

 1927 births

 2020 deaths

 American glaciologists

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 This page was last edited on 24 October 2021, at 11:54 (UTC).

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