Climate and Land Use Change
Which mountain in the conterminous U.S. has the most glaciers?
Mount Rainier, Washington, at 14,410 feet (4,393 meters), the highest peak in the Cascade Range, is a dormant volcano whose glacier ice cover exceeds that of any other mountain in the conterminous United States. Mount Rainier has approximately 26 glaciers. It contains more than five times the glacier area of all the other Cascade volcanoes combined. Mount Baker (Washington) at 10,778 feet (3,285 meters), is also a glacier-clad volcano in the North Cascade Mountains. With 10 glaciers, it is second to Mount Rainier in both number and area of its glaciers.
Learn more: USGS Water Science School - Glaciers: Things to Know
How would sea level change if all glaciers melted?
There is still some uncertainty about the full volume of glaciers and ice caps on Earth, but if all of them were to melt, global sea level would rise approximately 70 meters (approximately 230 feet), flooding every coastal city on the planet.Learn more:USGS Water Science School: Glaciers and IcecapsNational Snow and Ice Data Center: Facts about GlaciersU.S. Global Change Research Program: Sea...
What are the impacts of glacier loss, other than losing an aesthetic landscape feature?
Glaciers act as reservoirs of water that persist through summer. Continual melt from glaciers contributes water to the ecosystem throughout dry months, creating perennial stream habitat and a water source for plants and animals. The cold runoff from glaciers also affects downstream water temperatures. Many aquatic species in mountainous environments require cold water temperatures to survive. Some...
What is a Benchmark Glacier?
"Benchmark Glacier" refers to four North American glaciers that have been selected for long-term glacier monitoring that investigates climate, glacier geometry, glacier mass balance, glacier motion, and stream runoff. Benchmark glaciers monitored by the USGS are:Gulkana Glacier and Wolverine Glacier in AlaskaSouth Cascade Glacier in WashingtonSperry Glacier in MontanaLearn more:USGS Benchmark...
What is a glacier?
A glacier is a large, perennial accumulation of crystalline ice, snow, rock, sediment, and often liquid water that originates on land and moves down slope under the influence of its own weight and gravity. Typically, glaciers exist and may even form in areas where:mean annual temperatures are close to the freezing pointwinter precipitation produces significant accumulations of snowtemperatures...
How old is glacier ice?
The age of the oldest glacier ice in Antarctica may approach 1,000,000 years oldThe age of the oldest glacier ice in Greenland is more than 100,000 years oldThe age of the oldest Alaskan glacier ice ever recovered (from a basin between Mt. Bona and Mt. Churchill) is about 30,000 years old.Glacier flow moves newly formed ice through the entire length of a typical Alaskan valley glacier in 100 years...
Are today's glaciers leftovers from the Pleistocene ice age?
Yes and no. It depends on which glaciers you are considering. Parts of the Antarctic Continent have had continuous glacier cover for perhaps as long as 20 million years. Other areas, such as valley glaciers of the Antarctic Peninsula and glaciers of the Transantarctic Mountains may date from the early Pleistocene. For Greenland, ice cores and related data suggest that all of southern Greenland and...
Do ice worms exist?
Yes, ice worms do, in fact, exist! They are small worms that live in glacial ice in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia; they have not been found in glaciers elsewhere. Contrary to stories and songs, they do not give glacier ice its blue color and they don't grow to lengths of 50 feet. (These myths were made popular by poet Robert Service and the annual Cordova Iceworm Festival in...
Why is glacier ice blue?
Glacier ice is blue because the red (long wavelengths) part of white light is absorbed by ice and the blue (short wavelengths) light is transmitted and scattered. The longer the path light travels in ice, the more blue it appears.Learn more: USGS Water Science School - Glaciers: Things to Know
Where are glaciers found in continental North America?
Glaciers exist in both the United States and Canada. Most U.S. glaciers are in Alaska; others can be found in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nevada (Wheeler Peak Glacier in Great Basin National Park).Utah's Timpanogos Glacier is now a rock glacier (in which the ice is hidden by rocks), and Idaho's Otto Glacier has melted away.Canada has glaciers in Alberta, British...
Where on Earth are temperate glaciers located?
A temperate glacier (as opposed to a polar glacier) is a glacier that's essentially at the melting point, so liquid water coexists with glacier ice. A small change in temperature can have a major impact on temperate glacier melting, area, and volume. Temperate glaciers exist on the continents of North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia; on both islands of New Zealand; and on the...
State of the Earth's cryosphere at the beginning of the 21st century : glaciers, global snow cover, floating ice, and permafrost and periglacial environments: Chapter A in <i>Satellite image atlas of glaciers of the world</i>
This chapter is the tenth in a series of 11 book-length chapters, collectively referred to as "this volume," in the series U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1386, Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World. In the other 10 chapters, each of which concerns a specific glacierized region of Earth, the authors used remotely sensed images, primarily from the Landsat 1, 2, and 3 series of sp
Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center
Satellite image atlas of glaciers of the world
U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1386, Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World, contains 11 chapters designated by the letters A through K. Chapter A provides a comprehensive, yet concise, review of the "State of the Earth's Cryosphere at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Glaciers, Global Snow Cover, Floating Ice, and Permafrost and Periglacial Environments," and a "Map/Poster of
Water Resources Research Act Program
Fifty-Year Record of Glacier Change Reveals Shifting Climate in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, USA
Fifty years of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research on glacier change shows recent dramatic shrinkage of glaciers in three climatic regions of the United States. These long periods of record provide clues to the climate shifts that may be driving glacier change. The USGS Benchmark Glacier Program began in 1957 as a result of research efforts during the International Geophysical Year (Meier a
In 1978, the USGS began the preparation of the 11-chapter USGS Professional Paper 1386, 'Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World'. Between 1979 and 1981, optimum satellite images were distributed to a team of 70 scientists, representing 25 nations and 45 institutions, who agreed to author sections of the Professional Paper concerning either a geographic area (chapters B-K) or a glaciologica
Satellite image atlas of glaciers of the world -- North America
Ecosystems, Fort Collins Science Center
Glaciers Rapidly Shrinking and Disappearing: 50 Years of Glacier Change in Montana
The warming climate has dramatically reduced the size of 39 glaciers in Montana since 1966, some by as much as 85 percent, according to data released...
Fifty Years of Glacier Change Research in Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of the longest continuous glacier research efforts in North America.
From Icefield to Ocean - What Glacier Change Might Mean for the Future of Alaska
Frozen bodies of ice cover nearly 10 percent of the state of Alaska, but the influence of glaciers on the environment, tourism, fisheries, hydropower...
Rare Insect Found Only in Glacier National Park Imperiled by Melting Glaciers
The persistence of an already rare aquatic insect, the western glacier stonefly, is being imperiled by the loss of glaciers and increased stream...