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December 17, 2023
Cascade Pass Area Loses Two Glaciers
The Triplets and Cascade Peak glacier in GLIMS glacier viewer with the red outlines of the 1958 and 2015 margins and the black dot indicating they are now extinct. In a 1993 Washington Geology article I noted that “In the Cascade Pass area two small glaciers in Torment Basin and two beneath the Triplets Peak and Cascade Peak have altitude ranges of less than 150 m. These glaciers in 1985, …
October 19, 2023
Future Prospects Vanishing: 40th Field Season North Cascade Glacier Climate Project Results
The summer of 2023 was our 40th field season observing the response of North Cascade glaciers to climate change. Each year we visit a series of glaciers on the same date to complete our annual examination. We carry all of the equipment to each field site in backpacks and camp in tents near the glacier. All the glaciers we observe, except Easton Glacier, are in Wilderness Areas. This precludes the …
September 27, 2023
From Mount Hood to Mount Robson Extremely Limited 2023 Snowcover Retained
Written by Ben Pelto, Jill Pelto and Mauri Pelto Field Sketch of Ice Worm Glacier from Aug. 13, 2023 on photograph of glacier. (Jill Pelto) It was July 5, 1981 and Juneau meteorologist Brad Coleman had just informed us that Juneau had experienced one of its warmest least snowy winter ever. I was with the Juneau Icefield Research Program and we were headed up to the icefield the next day, …
August 24, 2023
Collapse of the Glacier Complex on Mount Daniel-Hinman, Washington
Jill Pelto Sketches the demise of Ice Worm Glacier August 13, 2023. In 1984, as the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project began, the largest concentration of glaciers between Mount Rainier and Glacier Peak was on Mount Daniel-Hinman; Daniels, Foss, Hinman, Ice Worm and Lynch Glacier. Hence, I felt these glaciers were worth monitoring. Now in August 2023, we just finished our 40th annual survey of these glaciers and they have …
July 29, 2023
40th Field Season of North Cascade Glacier Climate Project Underway
Illustration by Megan Pelto of key numbers behind what it takes to undertake a 40 year field study on glaciers. For the 40th consecutive summer the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project is heading into the field to measure and communicate the impact of climate change on North Cascade glaciers. This field season follows the 2021 and 2022 seasons that featured a historic heat wave and periods of extended warm weather. …
July 26, 2023
Mount Baker Glacier’s Perspective on Climate Change 1984-2022-Disastrous!
Camp above Coleman Glacier on Heliotrope Ridge, (Jill Pelto painting) Mount Baker is the most glaciated peak and highest mountain in the North Cascade Range at 3286 m. The Nooksack Indian Tribe refers to this strato volcano as Komo Kulshan, the great white (smoking) watcher. Mount Baker has 12 significant glaciers that covered 42 km2 in 1984 and ranged in elevation from 1320 m to 3250 m. Kulshan watches over …
May 16, 2023
Mount Baker Glaciers, Washington Snowpack Recession and Evolution May 2022-May 2023
Sholes Glacier snowcover extent change from 8-8-2022 to 10-17-2022. Snowcover declined from 98% of glacier to 10% of glacier during this period. Black dots are measurement sites, yellow dots the transient snowline, purple contour= 1.5 m, green contour= 2 m, brown contour= 2.5 m, and orange contour= 3 m snow depths on 8-8-2022. The 2022 melt season for Moutn Baker glaciers was one for the record books, with a slow …
December 29, 2022
Loss of Hinman Glacier, North Cascade Range 1958-2022
Himan Glacier in 1958 USGS map and in 2022 Sentinel 2 False Color image. The three ice masses with an area greater than 0.01 km² are indicated. Hinman Glacier had descended the northwest flank of Mount Hinman in the North Cascades, Washington and based on 1958 aerial photographs, Hinman Glacier the USGS had listed this as the largest glacier in the North Cascades south of Glacier Peak with an area …
October 28, 2022
Suiattle, White River, Whitechuck and Honeycomb Glaciers North Cascade Range Diminishing Rapidly
USGS Map of the four glacier from 1984, with none of the seven lakes existing. In 1988 we mapped four glaciers arrayed around the Kololo Peaks just south of Glacier Peak; Honeycomb and White River feeding into Wenatchee Lake watershed, while Whitechuck and Suiatlle fed into the Suiattle River watershed. They had a combined area of 9.2 km². The glaciers had not developed a series of proglacial terminus lakes at …
October 9, 2022
Lyman Glacier Lost Half its area from 1979-2022
Map illustrating changes in Lyman Glacier 1890-2017- losing 87% of its area. Lyman Glacier which feeds into Lyman Lake and then Railroad Creek in the Lake Chelan drainage of the North Cascade Range, Washington has retreated a total of 1330 m from the 1890 moraine. In 1929 year the terminus position was mapped by the Washington Water Power Company. The Washington Water Power Company emplaced a benchmark from which to …
Dean of Academic Affairs at Nichols College and Professor of Environmental Science at Nichols College in Massachusetts since 1989. Glaciologist directing the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project since 1984. This project monitors the mass balance and behavior of more glaciers than any other in North America.