North Cascade Glaciers Set To Lose An Average Of 5-10% In Volume This Year ALONE
In more than three decades of field work, Mauri Pelto has taken the measure of Washington’s glaciers during seasons of record-breaking snow and years that broke skiers’ hearts. But he’s never seen anything like this summer.
“The best word for it is disastrous,” said Pelto, who recently wrapped up his annual survey in the North Cascades. On mountain after mountain, he and his team encountered bare ice and gushing meltwater on glaciers that would normally be blanketed with snow. On average, Pelto estimates glaciers across the rugged mountain range will lose 5 to 10 percent of their volume before the summer is over. “This is the single biggest volume loss in the last 50 years,” said Pelto, a Nichols College glaciologist.
One year is just a blip in the life of glaciers. But 2015’s dramatic melt comes on top of an ongoing retreat that has seen glaciers across the Northwest shrink by 25 to 40 percent since the mid-1980s, reflecting trends around the world.
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It’s not clear what role — if any — global warming played in this year’s unusual drought. Precipitation across the Northwest was about normal, but temperatures were so warm that little moisture fell as snow except at the highest elevations. Add in a hot, dry spring, and glaciers are taking a major hit, Pelto said. While 2015 may prove to be a fluke, computer models predict similar conditions will become more common as atmospheric levels of man-made greenhouse gases increase. Even without the added kick from global warming, some droughts in the past have lasted a decade or more. “The scary thing to think about is what happens if the next 18 out of 20 years are like this,” Riedel said.
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http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/science/disastrous-low-snow-heat-eat-away-at-northwest-glaciers/
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