RECENT HISTORICAL FLUCTUATIONS OF THE GLACIER DU TAILLON, PYRÉNÉES

Abstract

The Taillon Glacier in the French Pyrénées offers one of the most detailed records of recent glacier fluctuations in the region. A comprehensive collection of early maps, paintings, and photographs, together with short-term measurements relating to the ice margins and glacier behavior, have made possible a full reconstruction of the glacier's history since the end of the 19th century. The general pattern of ice-front retreat has been punctuated by a series of significant local readvances, dated 1886–1890, 1906–1911, 1926–1928, 1945, and 1964. The record is compared with the more detailed histories of glaciers from the Alps, and signals a surprising degree of sensitivity for the Taillon Glacier, given its overall size and state of survival. [Key words: Taillon Glacier, Pyrénées, Little Ice Age, glaciology.]