The Environment Northwest team examines how the evolving climate impacts glaciers across the region.

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WASHINGTON, USA — Scientists document alarming acceleration in glacier loss at Washington national park

For more than four decades, glaciologist Mauri Pelto has made an annual pilgrimage to the glaciers of Washington’s North Cascades, meticulously documenting his retreat in what has become one of the country’s longest-running glacier monitoring projects.

This summer, as Pelto and his research team wrapped up their 42nd year of field work on the Lower Curtis Glacier, the data told a stark story. The glacier, more than 5,000 years old, is melting at an unprecedented rate and is not expected to survive the current climate.

“There’s the observer mode, then you’re just taking the measurements and trying to understand what’s happening so you can tell the story,” Pelto said during the trip. “But then later when you reflect, it’ll get to you.”

The numbers are staggering. When Pelto began his research in 1984, approximately 700 glaciers dotted the North Cascades range. Today, 100 of those glaciers have vanished entirely, with most disappearing in the last decade alone.

The pace of melting has accelerated dramatically. From 1984 to 2012, glaciers in the region lost an average of about two feet of mass per year. That rate nearly tripled in the past decade, with average annual mass loss skyrocketing to about 5 feet 6 inches between 2013 and 2024.

“Like a lot of glaciers, you can see where it’s really struggling,” Pelto said, pointing to rocks now visible through what was once a smooth snow face. “When you start to see rocks emerging from below the glacier in an area that should be an accumulation zone where snow never melts, that’s when you know the glacier can’t survive.”

The North Cascades contain roughly half of all glaciers in the lower 48 states, making them a critical barometer for understanding climate change impacts across the American West. Only eight states have glaciers, and the rapid retreat in Washington mirrors patterns observed globally.

After decades of data collection, Pelto now oversees three of the world’s 60 “reference glaciers” — sites with the longest documented records of glacial behavior. The data from these sites contributes to global climate research and policy decisions.

“2023 was the first year when every single glacier in the network lost mass the same year,” Pelto noted. “In 2024 it happened again. That’s telling you that it doesn’t matter what mountain range in the world you go to, the story is the same.”

Each summer, Pelto and his team spend three weeks in the mountains, hiking to as many as 10 different glaciers, a self-funded project. They measure slope, height, width and the depth of crevasses. They check snowpack coverage and monitor the streams of glacial meltwater flowing from each site.

This year brought a troubling milestone: Pelto was able to walk across the stream of ice-cold glacial water flowing from the Lower Curtis Glacier — something that should not be possible if the glacier were healthy.

The team found that only about 50% of the glacier remained covered by snow at a time of year when 80% coverage would be expected. That lack of snow coverage will leave the glacier exposed in the final weeks of the summer, intensifying the melt. The Lower Curtis Glacier is projected to lose 4% of its total volume this year alone, with 20% of its volume having disappeared in just the past five years.

Pelto’s research has become a family affair. His daughter, Jill, first joined the research trip in 2009 at age 16. She said she became hooked and just completed her 17th year traveling to the glacier with her father.

She brings a different skillset to the trip, though. She is an artist and creates artwork based on the glacial melting data, transforming graphs and measurements into visual narratives designed to make the science more accessible to the public.

“Art can be that connection between that more factual information that can be technical, can be tough to understand, can be hard to relate to,” Jill Pelto said. “It can break some of those barriers.”

The collaboration between scientists and artists reflects a broader recognition that raw data alone may not convey the urgency of the situation.

“Science data doesn’t speak to a lot of people. It’s numbers and yes you see those numbers but it’s two-dimensional,” Mauri Pelto explained. “The art brings that third dimension to it in a way that people can stop and interact with it in a way that numbers or a line on a graph don’t allow.”

During a recent expedition, the team explored a cave within the glacier that is at least 50 years old, marveling at the different layers of ice and the geological evidence of the glacier’s movement over time. But such wonders are temporary — this glacier is expected to disappear within Jill Pelto’s lifetime.

The elder Pelto initially started the project in the 1980s when climate scientists recognized that mass melting was intensifying. He knew the North Cascades would remain affordable because they can be hiked and motorized technology is not allowed, so he would never need to use expensive equipment. He then set the goal of 50 years of ongoing data collection.

Now, with nearly 42 years of data collected, the project has become both a scientific endeavor and a form of environmental advocacy.

“You think of that story, the Lorax who speaks for the trees,” Pelto reflected. “And we speak for the glaciers. It’s not a happy story.”

As climate change continues to warm the planet, the glaciers of the North Cascades serve as both an early warning system and a testament to the profound changes already underway.

Each summer’s measurements add another data point to a story of loss that researchers hope will galvanize action before it’s too late.

Oregon’s South Sister faces vanishing glaciers, scientists warn

PORTLAND, Ore. — The beauty of the Three Sisters can stop you in your tracks, but behind the snowcapped peaks lies a troubling shift. Glaciers that have defined Oregon’s high country for thousands of years are melting away at a pace scientists say we’ve never seen before.

There’s a reason South Sister is one of the more popular peaks to climb in Oregon; but as you climb higher and higher, you’re seeing more rock exposed up at 9,000 feet, instead of snow and ice.

Anders Carlson is the President of the Oregon Glaciers Institute. He’s been studying glaciers for the last 25 years.

“There are glaciers that have disappeared as well, Irving to the north of that on Middle Sister, Eugene Glacier on South Sister is gone,” said Carlson.

He added that over the last 10 years, the climate impacts on the planet and through the Cascades has skyrocketed.

Andrew Fountain is a retired geology professor at Portland State University. In a study he’s been working on, he found that there is somewhere between 40-60% glacier loss since the mid-1960s.

Glaciers in Western Canada, the United States and parts of Europe have lost 12% of their total volume over a four year period from 2021 to 2024, according to new research by the University of Northern British Columbia.

Figuring out what’s behind this is no surprise. Summers over the last decade have been getting hotter, according to Fountain.

So what will the Three Sisters wilderness look like in the next 50 years?

“As of the current way of warming, it’s too hot to keep glaciers in the Three Sisters area, they will disappear under the current temperature we have,” Fountain said.

It will be unrecognizable landscape from what we’re seeing today.

Experts detail impact of melting glaciers on Northwest conditions, oceans

BOISE, Idaho — Scientists across the Pacific Northwest are wrapping up summer research on the status of local glaciers – some of which are melting at record speed and impacting the region.

Melting glaciers can mean much more than rising sea levels – research reveals it also fundamentally changes the ocean’s circulation, temperature and chemistry in way that could impact coasts in the Northwest.

The Earth’s glaciers hold massive amounts of frozen water, and as they melt at unprecedented rates, they are creating unexpected consequences for oceans.

“The ice sheets have these huge amounts of liquid water locked into them. It’s frozen right now, but if it melts, it goes out in the oceans, and that causes sea level to rise,” said Ellyn Enderlin an associate professor in the Department of Geosciences at Boise State University.

Enderlin uses satellite imaging to track how fast icebergs are melting. The meltwater is already reshaping ocean systems and influencing conditions along the Pacific Northwest and beyond.

“Icebergs go out in the ocean, float away – you can imagine their little pockets of fresh water,” Enderlin said. “So, they’re the frozen pockets of fresh water that are drifting out in the ocean, and eventually melt, and they spread that fresh water out.”

The ocean’s waters circulate through what’s called the “global ocean conveyor belt,” a system that moves heat from the Equator toward the poles.

“By the time it gets up towards these polar regions, so top of the Earth, bottom of the Earth, it’s really salty. And that salt is actually what makes it dense,” Enderlin said. “It makes it heavy, and so that makes the water sink, and then that drives this global ocean circulation.”

As ocean water moves towards the poles, heat causes it to evaporate, leaving behind saltier and heavier water. The dense water sinks, helping to drive a global circulation system that regulates climate.

But when glaciers melt, they release huge volumes of fresh water, which can slow or even disrupt the flow of ocean currents.

“If we pump out too much ice out into the oceans from Greenland and Antarctica – and depending on sort of where it melts, how it gets mixed in – it can slow down, or actually shut down, global ocean circulation,” Enderlin said.

The shift in ocean flows could have far-reaching consequences for global climate patterns – and the Pacific Northwest is feeling the impact.

Earlier snowmelt and reduced summer streamflow in Idaho are straining irrigation systems in the Boise River Basin, impacting crops.

In Washington and Oregon, shrinking glaciers feed rivers and coastal waters, affecting salmon runs, hydropower and even drinking water.

“Our climate influences things like where we can grow crops, so we alter ocean circulation, that’s going to change our atmospheric circulation, which is then going to even change like our long-standing agricultural practices,” Enderlin said.

Central Washington farmers deal with drought as glaciers and snowpack melt at record rate

SUNNYSIDE, Wash — The noise is constant at J & K Dairy during the summer months. From fans to water soakers, trying to beat the summer heat isn’t easy. With 3,000 dairy cows and 2,000 acres for growing crops such as corn and wine grapes, that job gets harder for farmer Jason Sheehan when water’s scarce.

“Right now, the biggest issue we’re dealing with is the irrigation water,” said Sheehan.

Sheehan is part of the Roza Irrigation District in the Yakima Valley, where he serves as a board director. They’re right in the middle of their third drought in a row.

“In a drought like this year, we’re actually getting 42% of our water,” said Sheehan. “So less than half of what we’re supposed to get.”

The Roza Irrigation District relies heavily on the snowpack in the mountains, but this year those crucial winter accumulations just aren’t there. What started off as a promising year quickly melted faster than expected. As a result, Washington’s Department of Ecology declared a drought emergency for several counties across the state, including Okanogan, King and Yakima counties.

The snowpack isn’t the only thing melting faster than expected – something University of Idaho glaciologist Tim Bartholomaus knows all too well.

“The glaciers in the Northwest are sort of similar to the condition of glaciers across the Earth, and that’s generally that the glaciers are melting more than they’re gaining,” Bartholomaus said.

According to Bartholomaus, the glaciers across the Northwest are losing an average of two feet of ice every year. He points to climate change and the warmer temperatures that come with it for the faster melt.

“On average, the temperatures are warmer in the summer than they used to be, and that melts the glaciers a little bit faster,” said Bartholomaus. “In the exact same way, the snowpack also melts a little bit faster come the spring.”

It’s also why we’re seeing less mountain snow in the first place.

“In the last 70 years or so, we’ve seen, you know, in a lot of places, we still have snow. We still get snowstorms, but, you know, the snow that makes it to spring is now less than it used to be,” said Bartholomaus.

Back in the Yakima Valley, the lack of snow continues to impact Sheehan’s operations.

“When you have one drought, or maybe two droughts, you can kind of get through things,” he said. “But in the third year, you start to really stress crops.”

The lack of water resulted in Sheehan choosing not to grow anything on about a third of his land. However, it’s a costly decision since it means he has to buy more feed for his cows.

But one thing is working in Sheehan’s favor: the farm has its own water cycle to get as much use as they can out of each drop. One cycle starts with using water to cool the milk received from the cows. According to Sheehan, it’s then used to water all of the animals, cool them off with the multiple lines of soakers spanning the dairy’s barns, and to flush barn alleys of waste. It’s then gathered into the farm’s lagoons.

“We use it to fertilize our fields, to grow the crops, to feed the cows. So, it’s kind of a big full circle.”

Yet the future remains uncertain, with concerns about next year already sprouting.