Glaciers vanish in before-and-after photos - MSNBC

[highplainsdem]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11996943/

Glaciers vanish in before-and-after photos
Images show how Montana park’s ice has retreated over decades

By Bjorn Carey
Updated: 4:34 p.m. ET March 24, 2006


Glacier National Park might soon need a new name.

-snip-

In 1997 the U.S. Geological Survey began the Repeat Photography Project in the Montana park to compare how glaciers have changed over the last century. Photographers returned to locations where old-timers had taken photos long before they could possibly have imagined their scientific value. Locating these vantage points was the trickiest part of the project, as some required extensive off-trail hiking.

The before-and-after pictures released this week are dramatic — all that remains of some glaciers are big puddles. Others have simply faded away to expose bare mountainsides. The images were taken at similar times of year under similar conditions.

Based on the pictures and global recession rates, scientists predict that Glacier National Park will be glacier-free by 2030.

The image gallery is at

http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagegallery/igviewer.php?imgid=626&gid=42&index=0

[Junkdrawer]

1. As a 25 yr. old, I went to Glacier in 1975. It was my first view...

of a mountain. I went back in 2000. The rangers were alarmed then at the retreating glaciers.

So, are people still listening to the "Global Warming is a hoax" crowd? :shrug:

[FogerRox]

2. take alook

1875


2004


1950


2002

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I see you hit on Portage, too...

We must have been posting at the same time. :)

[FogerRox]

6. lol- YUP- I had these saved- very dramitic pics

[Blue_In_AK]

3. Here's one close to my home

Portage Glacier 1950


Portage Glacier 2002


Portage Glacier 1914


Portage Glacier 2004


This is my own photo of this vanishing glacier from May 2005. When I first moved here 30 years ago, the front of the glacier was out in the middle of the lake.

[FogerRox]

5. Tanzania - Mt. Kilimanjaro

[MissB]

8. I was shocked at the changes to Portage Glacier back in 1997

I graduated in 1987 and my high school reunion was held up at the Prince Hotel on Alyeska. We came back for my 10 year and I could not believe the difference!

Your picture from 2005 is stunning.

[Blue_In_AK]

10. Thanks...

Stunning maybe, but terribly sad. I hadn't been back there in several years when my new husband moved up here from Texas in 2003. I was all excited to take him sightseeing back to the glacier and couldn't believe it when we got there. It almost took my breath away. It really is heartbreaking.

[MissB]

11. Wasn't it you that posted a pic of your garden

recently? From talking to my brother, who still lives up in Anchorage, it seems like the growing season is being extended as well. I remember when we lived up there in the late 80s, there were simply some things that no gardener tried to grow- like strawberries - iirc.

The reports of the termination dust seem to be getting later and later with more mild winters.

[Blue_In_AK]

12. Yes, I did post a pic of my garden

and you're absolutely right. The old rule of thumb here was don't plant until Memorial Day weekend and harvest on Labor Day to avoid frost damage. The past few years I've been putting my garden in around the middle of May, and we haven't been getting a hard frost until late September. My strawberries do great. And I've been getting great crops of string beans which used to require a lot more babying. Some people up here have even grown corn which used to be unheard of. I've heard of people who are getting apples, as well, which I never would have believed in earlier years.


ed. In some ways we like our milder weather, of course, but the down side is that the hot summers are resulting in devastating wildfires. We've had millions of acres burned in the past two summers, both record fire seasons.

[FloridaPat]

7. I was hoping to see that park before I died. Now I have to worry

about seeing it before it dies.

[MissB]

9. Ain't that the truth.

:cry:

[FogerRox]

15. good trun of phrase . . . . . . .

[sakabatou]

13. In a few years no one will remember the "Snows on Killamanjaro"

[FogerRox]

14. kickin for the kids

[VitaminM]

16. this is so sad

:cry: