April 8, 2010
There continues to be a persistent misconception that all glaciers in Glacier National Park will be gone by 2030, I get asked that by journalists frequently and when I point out that is not the case they are surprised. An examination of 15 Glacier National Park glaciers using the recently published Alpine Glacier Survival Forecast method, indicates that 10 of the 15 glaciers are experiencing a disequilibrium response and will disappear, the other five have been shrinking little. A simpler and more visual look at the survival issue, illustrates why though they all are diminishing the glaciers will not all be gone by 2030. Blackfoot and Harrison Glacier are the two largest glaciers and show minimal changes in the accumulation zone. Both glaciers continue to retreat with the main termini retreating approximately 100-120 m since 1966. In this post we take a close look at the Harrison Glacier the most vigorous and slowest receding of the few remaining Glacier National Park glaciers. Key and Fagre (2003) utilized a model to construct the future of glaciers in the Blackfoot-Jackson watershed, and determined that all would be gone by 2030 with continued substantial warming, but not with limited additional warming. Based on the slow recession and equilibrium response of Blackfoot and Harrison Glacier to recent climate over the last 40 years these two glaciers are not going to disappear within the next 30 years. Harrison Glacier has according to the ongoing work of Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK) Has lost 9% of its areas between 1966 and 2005, a 40 year period. In the first image below the glacier is outlined in the 1966 map of Harrison glacier overlaid in Google Earth. The orange outline is left on the following three images all from Google Earth’s historic imagery files. The map indicates the area of crevasses above the main terminus. A look at the glacier over the last two decades indicates the glacier remains vigorous in terms of flow, as indicated by the many crevasses. In every image from 1991 second image to 2003 and 2005 last two images, even in these later summer images the glacier retains snowpack in its upper accumulation zone. This suggest a glacier that can survive current climate at a diminished size.
1966 map boundary of the glacier overlain in Google Earth.
1991 Google Earth image
2003 Google Earth image
2005 Google Earth Image
The above images indicate the slow recent recession of the Harrison Glacier, which unlike the majority in the park is only slowly receding. This is in contrast to nearby Shepard Glacier and Grinnell Glacier which often are devoid of snow and are losing area at a rate of 10% per decade, four times that of Harrison Glacier. Why the difference? Most of the glaciers lay on the east or northeast slopes-lee side of the mountain ridges and have significant avalanching from the slopes above. Grinnell Glacier has a significant accumulation area at 7000 feet and Harrison Glacier at 9000 feet.