{"id":3597,"date":"2009-11-29T09:25:03","date_gmt":"2009-11-29T17:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=3597"},"modified":"2018-02-02T19:32:53","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T19:32:53","slug":"some-glaciers-buck-the-trend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/11\/29\/some-glaciers-buck-the-trend\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Glaciers Buck the Trend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

We\u2019re entering the best time of year for fans of glaciers.\u00a0 The high-country rivers of ice are getting their annual nourishment from winter\u2019s snows–probably not enough, as Yosemite National Park geologist Greg Stock tells us: \u201cGlaciers are getting about the same amount of snowfall each winter but they\u2019re seeing a lot more melt in summertime because of those warmer temperatures.\u201d<\/p>\n

A database called Glaciers of the American West<\/a> posits that, \u201cPerhaps glaciers are the clearest expression of climate change.\u201d\u00a0 But within that National Science Foundation-funded database can be found a few growing glaciers–curious exceptions that buck the general melting trend.\u00a0 Cherry-picking those exceptions allows some global warming skeptics to suggest we should be preparing for the next ice age (see here<\/a> and here<\/a> for examples of this). However, a closer examination of the anomalous glaciers suggests that unique circumstances are more likely at work.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Crater Glacier<\/a> on Mount St. Helens in southwest Washington State is a dramatic example of a growing glacier.\u00a0 The glacier formed in the shaded recesses of the high elevation crater left by the catastrophic 1980 eruption of the volcano.\u00a0 USGS research hydrologist Joe Walder told us the mass of ice and rock is advancing some 300 feet per year.\u00a0 This time lapse video<\/a> (file will download) provided by the U.S. Geological Survey shows why glaciers are also known as \u201crivers of ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another view from above shows how Crater Glacier got squeezed and pushed around when Mount St. Helens reawakened in 2006 and extruded a new lava dome.\u00a0 That the young glacier survived the renewed eruption is remarkable by itself.\u00a0 The fact that the horseshoe-shaped glacier is gaining mass indicates just what a perfect setting Mother Nature created at the volcano.\u00a0 The north-facing crater acts like a catcher\u2019s mitt reaching toward the moist jet stream.
\n<\/object>
\nMount Rainier, also in Washington State, is the most heavily glaciated peak in the Lower 48 states.\u00a0 On Rainier\u2019s east flank, Emmons Glacier is advancing.\u00a0The National Park Service<\/a> offers this myth-busting explanation:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Emmons Glacier experienced a rock avalanche in 1963, which covered part of the glacier with a layer of rock debris. This debris now insulates the ablation (melting) zone of the glacier from sunlight and warm air temperatures and the melting of the glacier is smaller than from an otherwise clean glacier. Because melting is reduced, but the ice flow is the same, the glacier is advancing. This response has nothing to do with climate change.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"
Mount Shasta<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Something yet again different appears to be happening at northern California\u2019s Mount Shasta. A research team from UC Santa Cruz documented 50 years of nearly continuous expansion of the two largest glaciers on Mount Shasta.\u00a0 The researchers theorize in the journal Climate Dynamics<\/a> that Shasta\u2019s glaciers are benefiting from a warming Pacific Ocean. A warmer ocean means more evaporation, and hence more moisture blows over the high peaks near the coast.\u00a0 Because of Shasta\u2019s height, the enhanced precipitation mostly falls as snow, adding to the mass of the glaciers.<\/p>\n

Portland State University glaciologist Andrew Fountain<\/a> says no one has yet explained to his satisfaction why glaciers on peaks immediately to the north and south of Mount Shasta are not likewise growing.\u00a0 It is as if a \u201csnow gun\u201d is aimed directly at Shasta\u2019s 14,162-foot summit.\u00a0 But he doesn\u2019t lose sleep over that issue because Fountain and the other glaciologists who have studied Shasta do not expect the glacial advance to last.\u00a0 Their climate models call for the snow level (elevation) to rise.\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do expect it to be a temporary phenomenon,\u201d Fountain said.\u00a0 \u201cThe modeling done down on Mount Shasta expects the glaciers to retreat within the next decade or so, if they\u2019re not already.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom Banse’s radio feature on the West’s growing glaciers airs Monday morning on The California Report<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Even as average temperatures rise at higher elevations throughout the West, a few stubborn glaciers just won’t submit. What’s up with that? Maybe not what you’d think.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11417,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[151,249,507],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-3597","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-thescience","tag-cryosphere","tag-glaciers","tag-shasta"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nSome Glaciers Buck the Trend | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/11\/29\/some-glaciers-buck-the-trend\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some Glaciers Buck the Trend | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Even as average temperatures rise at higher elevations throughout the West, a few stubborn glaciers just won't submit. 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