Glacier National Park loses two more glaciers.

[Old Rocks]

According to Dan Fagre of the USGS, Glacier National Park has lost two more glaciers, leaving that park with only twenty five of it's namesake glaciers. Fagre states that he expects those to be gone by the end of this decade.

He also states, "When we are measuring glacier margins, by the time we go home, the glacier is already smaller than what we've measured".

This from an Associated Press article in the Oregonian.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Sorry, I warmed up the wife's SUV for 10 minutes before she went to work yesterday

 

[RadiomanATL]

They shoulda RFID'ed them.

Damn irresponsible of them if you ask me.

 

[del]

did they look under the seat cushions on the sofa?

i'm always finding shit i lost back there.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Note: pointing only at the places that are warming and claiming that it's both manmade and global is not how real science works

 

[Old Rocks]

When well over 90% of the glaciers, worldwide, are in retreat, an accelerating retreat, that represents a worldwide warming.

Not only that, the Greenland and Antarctica Ice Caps are both losing ice by the giga-ton.

http://assets.panda.org/downloads/glacierspaper.pdf

THE ARCTIC
Over recent decades, Arctic glaciers have generally been shrinking, with the exception of Scandinavia andIceland, where increased precipitation has resulted in a positive balance36. Arctic melting appears to haveaccelerated in the late 1990s; estimates of combined annual melting rose from 100 sq km per year from1980-89 to 320 sq km in 1997 and 540 sq km in 199837. Greenland alone contains 12% of the world’s ice. Whileportions of the interior are gaining mass, there has been significant thinning and ice loss around the periphery.This loss is not simply due to melting at the edges; entire portions of the Greenland ice sheet appear to be slidingtowards the sea. Because this sliding accelerates when surface melting is most intense, it is believed that surfacemeltwater may be trickling down to the glacial bed and lubricating ice sheet movement38. This recent discoveryprovides a mechanism for rapid response of ice sheets to climate change, a process that was previously believedto require hundreds or thousands of years.

NORTH AMERICA
Glaciers in the Rocky Mountains and Western Coastal Ranges have experienced considerable
losses during this century, and melting is accelerating rapidly in southern Alaska. Since
Glacier National Park (Montana, USA) was established in 1910, more than two thirds of
its glaciers and about 75% of its glacier area has disappeared29; if the present rate of
warming continues, there will be no glaciers left in the Park by 203030. In Banff, Jasper,
and Yoho National Parks in the Canadian Rockies, glacier cover has decreased by at least 25%
during the 20th century31. South Cascade Glacier in coastal Washington (USA) lost 19 m of ice
thickness between 1976 and 1995, ten times more than during the previous 18 years32. Nearly
all glaciers surveyed in Alaska are melting, and thinning rates in the last 5-7 years are more
than twice those seen in previous decades13.

 

[CrusaderFrank]

When well over 90% of the glaciers, worldwide, are in retreat, an accelerating retreat, that represents a worldwide warming.

Not only that, the Greenland and Antarctica Ice Caps are both losing ice by the giga-ton.

http://assets.panda.org/downloads/glacierspaper.pdf

THE ARCTIC
Over recent decades, Arctic glaciers have generally been shrinking, with the exception of Scandinavia andIceland, where increased precipitation has resulted in a positive balance36. Arctic melting appears to haveaccelerated in the late 1990s; estimates of combined annual melting rose from 100 sq km per year from1980-89 to 320 sq km in 1997 and 540 sq km in 199837. Greenland alone contains 12% of the world’s ice. Whileportions of the interior are gaining mass, there has been significant thinning and ice loss around the periphery.This loss is not simply due to melting at the edges; entire portions of the Greenland ice sheet appear to be slidingtowards the sea. Because this sliding accelerates when surface melting is most intense, it is believed that surfacemeltwater may be trickling down to the glacial bed and lubricating ice sheet movement38. This recent discoveryprovides a mechanism for rapid response of ice sheets to climate change, a process that was previously believedto require hundreds or thousands of years.

NORTH AMERICA
Glaciers in the Rocky Mountains and Western Coastal Ranges have experienced considerable
losses during this century, and melting is accelerating rapidly in southern Alaska. Since
Glacier National Park (Montana, USA) was established in 1910, more than two thirds of
its glaciers and about 75% of its glacier area has disappeared29; if the present rate of
warming continues, there will be no glaciers left in the Park by 203030. In Banff, Jasper,
and Yoho National Parks in the Canadian Rockies, glacier cover has decreased by at least 25%
during the 20th century31. South Cascade Glacier in coastal Washington (USA) lost 19 m of ice
thickness between 1976 and 1995, ten times more than during the previous 18 years32. Nearly
all glaciers surveyed in Alaska are melting, and thinning rates in the last 5-7 years are more
than twice those seen in previous decades13.

List of expanding glaciers

Global WarmerCoolering!

 

[Big Black Dog]

Maybe in a few years it can be renamed to Volcano National Park.

 

[uscitizen]

How much will having less glaciers decrease the downstream water available for use?

 

[California Girl]

did they look under the seat cushions on the sofa?

i'm always finding shit i lost back there.

I was gonna ask 'how the **** can anyone lose a glacier?' Seems irresponsible of someone. I think some heads need to roll on this. They should fire whoever is responsible for the glaciers... it's not like anyone can just move one of those things.

Will the police be called?

Is there a blackmarket for glaciers?

Is it on e-bay yet?

Did someone maybe cut it up for ice?

So many questions, so few answers.

 

[Big Black Dog]

I was just thinking... If it gets warm enough maybe the dinos will come back! Cool.

 

[California Girl]

did they look under the seat cushions on the sofa?

i'm always finding shit i lost back there.

I am awaiting return of my rep.... some bastard stole it. I blame Gunny and his damned rules.*


* I've always preferred to think of them more as, sort of, guidelines.

Credit: Capt Jack Sparrow et al: Pirates of the Caribbean.

 

[Old Rocks]

When well over 90% of the glaciers, worldwide, are in retreat, an accelerating retreat, that represents a worldwide warming.

Not only that, the Greenland and Antarctica Ice Caps are both losing ice by the giga-ton.

http://assets.panda.org/downloads/glacierspaper.pdf

THE ARCTIC
Over recent decades, Arctic glaciers have generally been shrinking, with the exception of Scandinavia andIceland, where increased precipitation has resulted in a positive balance36. Arctic melting appears to haveaccelerated in the late 1990s; estimates of combined annual melting rose from 100 sq km per year from1980-89 to 320 sq km in 1997 and 540 sq km in 199837. Greenland alone contains 12% of the world’s ice. Whileportions of the interior are gaining mass, there has been significant thinning and ice loss around the periphery.This loss is not simply due to melting at the edges; entire portions of the Greenland ice sheet appear to be slidingtowards the sea. Because this sliding accelerates when surface melting is most intense, it is believed that surfacemeltwater may be trickling down to the glacial bed and lubricating ice sheet movement38. This recent discoveryprovides a mechanism for rapid response of ice sheets to climate change, a process that was previously believedto require hundreds or thousands of years.

NORTH AMERICA
Glaciers in the Rocky Mountains and Western Coastal Ranges have experienced considerable
losses during this century, and melting is accelerating rapidly in southern Alaska. Since
Glacier National Park (Montana, USA) was established in 1910, more than two thirds of
its glaciers and about 75% of its glacier area has disappeared29; if the present rate of
warming continues, there will be no glaciers left in the Park by 203030. In Banff, Jasper,
and Yoho National Parks in the Canadian Rockies, glacier cover has decreased by at least 25%
during the 20th century31. South Cascade Glacier in coastal Washington (USA) lost 19 m of ice
thickness between 1976 and 1995, ten times more than during the previous 18 years32. Nearly
all glaciers surveyed in Alaska are melting, and thinning rates in the last 5-7 years are more
than twice those seen in previous decades13.

List of expanding glaciers

Global WarmerCoolering!

Sure, Greenlands glaciers are expanding

Glacier's retreat in Greenland

Rapidly accelerating glaciers may increase how fast the sea level rises

By Emily Saarman

Satellite images show that, after decades of stability, a major glacier draining the Greenland ice sheet has dramatically increased its speed and retreated nearly five miles in recent years.

Lines on this satellite image of Greenland's Helheim glacier show the positions of the glacier front between 2001 and 2005. Image: I. Howat et al.
Colors corresponding to the rate of flow show the increase in ice flow velocity on the Helheim glacier between 2001 and 2005.
Images: Howat et al

These changes could contribute to rapid melting of the Greenland ice sheet and cause the global sea level to rise faster than expected, according to researchers studying the glacier.

A paper describing these findings will be published this month in Geophysical Research Letters. The study focused on the Helheim glacier, one of the largest outlet glaciers in Greenland. Warming air and sea temperatures in the area likely caused the glacier to speed up, said Slawek Tulaczyk, associate professor of Earth sciences and a coauthor of the paper.

 

[Luissa]

Haven't the Glaciers at Glacier park been disappearing for millions of years?
It has been awhile since I have been there, but I am pretty sure they have been melting for awhile, and part of this is what caused I believe Lake Missoula to floud a large part of the northwest during the jurassic period or something???

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Haven't the Glaciers at Glacier park been disappearing for millions of years?
It has been awhile since I have been there, but I am pretty sure they have been melting for awhile, and part of this is what caused I believe Lake Missoula to floud a large part of the northwest during the jurassic period or something???

Old Rocks want to go back to 14,000 years ago when everything north of the Ohio River was under 600 feet of ice

 

[CrusaderFrank]

BBC - Science & Nature - Horizon - The Big Chill

 

[DiveCon]

Haven't the Glaciers at Glacier park been disappearing for millions of years?
It has been awhile since I have been there, but I am pretty sure they have been melting for awhile, and part of this is what caused I believe Lake Missoula to floud a large part of the northwest during the jurassic period or something???

yes, but that doesn't seem to permeate the thick skulls of people like rockhead

 

[Old Rocks]

How much will having less glaciers decrease the downstream water available for use?

A great deal. Much of agriculture on all continents depend on the fall irrigation from glaciers. As these glaciers retreat, there is less water each year at that period. As for Glacier National Park, the environment that depends on cool water streams in the fall, will be gone, as in trout fishing.

2 more glaciers gone from Glacier National Park - Yahoo! News

Since about 1850, when the Little Ice Age ended, the trend has been steadily downward.

The area of the Rocky Mountains now within Glacier National Park once boasted about 150 glaciers, of which 37 were eventually named.

Fagre said a handful of the park's largest glaciers could survive past 2020 or even 2030, but by that point the ecosystem would already be irreversibly altered.

Fagre said geological evidence points to the continual presence of glaciers in the area since at least 5000 B.C.

"They've been on this landscape continually for 7,000 years, and we're looking at them disappear in a couple of decades," he said.

A glacier needs to be 25 acres to qualify for the title. If it shrinks more, it does not always stop moving right away. A smaller mass of ice on a steep slope would continue to grind its way through the mountains, but eventually could disappear completely.

Smaller glaciers and warmer temperatures could lower stream flows, which in turn prompt fishing restrictions and hobble whitewater rafting businesses, said Denny Gignoux, who runs an outfitting business in West Glacier. Tourism is a $1 billion-a-year industry in the area.

"What happens when all these threats increase?" Gignoux asked. "We're losing a draw to Glacier."

A report released Wednesday by two environmental groups highlighted the threat to tourism of fewer glaciers. The study by the Rocky Mountain Climate Organization and Natural Resources Defense Council included an analysis of weather records that showed Glacier was 2 degrees hotter on average from 2000 to 2009, compared with 1950 to 1979.

 

[California Girl]

Haven't the Glaciers at Glacier park been disappearing for millions of years?
It has been awhile since I have been there, but I am pretty sure they have been melting for awhile, and part of this is what caused I believe Lake Missoula to floud a large part of the northwest during the jurassic period or something???

Did they frisk you on your way out to make sure you weren't stealing a glacier?

Were you 'BuyMyIceBurg85' on e-bay?

 

[CrusaderFrank]

Global Warming Science