Glaciers in Glacier National Park (U.S.)
Glacier National Park was named for its small active glaciers.[1] Indigenous People have referred to the Glacier National Park area as “the place where there is a lot of ice.”[2] Other Tribes describe the park as “the land of the shining mountains” because of the bright, reflective snow and ice seen from the plains to the east.[1][3]
The earliest known mention of the park’s name is found in a 1906 exchange between George Bird Grinnell and glacial geologist, François E. Matthes. He wrote, “the park proposed would contain roughly 1500 sq. miles, containing upward of 50 ice-bodies and over 200 lakes. It might fitly be called Glacier Park.”[1][4]
Once Glacier National Park was established in 1910, the US Geological Survey (USGS) began sending William C. Alden on annual expeditions into the park to survey and map the park’s glaciers and topography. In 1914, USGS published Alden’s report, The Glaciers of Glacier National Park. The first sentence of the report reads, “Glacier National Park derives its name and much of its interest from the presence of many small glaciers.”[5]
Number of glaciers in the park
The park contains dozens of bodies of ice, some that meet technical definitions of a glacier and some that do not. At least 35 of these ice bodies are officially named. Counting the number of glaciers requires defining which ice body deserves to be called a glacier.[6][7] The USGS defines a glacier as a body of ice with an area of at least 0.1 kilometers2.[8] "Below this size, ice is generally stagnant and does not have enough mass to move.”[9]
A 2019 study calculated that in the late 1800s, at the end of the Little Ice Age, there were 82 bodies of ice larger than 0.1 kilometers2. If the definition of a glacier was expanded to 0.01 kilometers2 then there were 146 glaciers. The same study counted 34 glaciers larger than 0.1 kilometers2 in the year 2005.[6]
A 2017 data release by the USGS counted the decline of named glaciers in the park.[10] At the end of the Little Ice Age there were 35 glaciers (that are today officially named), in 1966 those same 35 remained, in 2005 seven had shrunk below 0.1 kilometers2, leaving 27, and by 2015 there were 26 named bodies of ice large enough to be considered glaciers.[8]
Predictions of glacier disappearance
In 2003, researchers published an academic paper about two of the park's glaciers in the Journal of BioSciences. They used a geospatial computer model to predict the advance or retreat of Blackfoot Glacier and Jackson Glacier for each decade from 1990 to 2100 based on melting rates from historical data.[11]
Since Blackfoot and Jackson are relatively large glaciers, some experts hypothesized that if those two glaciers were completely melted then all the other glaciers in the park likely would be as well. A few years later the researchers looked again at how fast Blackfoot and Jackson were shrinking and found that they seemed to be melting faster than they first predicted. Informally, the researchers moved their 2030 date up to 2020.[12]
These predictive dates spread widely and were featured on various exhibits around the park. As 2020 approached, and scientific understanding of glacial melt advanced, the 2020 and 2030 prediction dates were removed.[13]
A 2010 study estimated the rate of disappearance of one of the park's glaciers, Sperry Glacier. That study found that for each degree of global warming the glacier would disappear faster. The authors wrote, “under the most probable temperature increase...we conservatively estimate the glacier persisting through at least 2080.”[14]
Repeat photography of Glacier National Park's glaciers
The USGS started a Repeat Photography Project in 1997. The project collected historic photos of the park's glaciers and then took new photos of the glaciers from the same vantage.[15]
Grinnell Glacier from Upper Grinnell Ridge in 1911- Grinnell Glacier from Upper Grinnell Ridge in 2021
- Grinnell Glacier from Lower Grinnell Ridge in 2017
- Grinnell Glacier from Lower Grinnell Ridge in 2023
List of glaciers in Glacier National Park
- Agassiz Glacier – 48°55′58″N 114°09′34″W / 48.93278°N 114.15944°W;[16] 7,858 feet (2,395 m)
- Ahern Glacier – 48°50′32″N 113°47′01″W / 48.84222°N 113.78361°W;[17] 8,169 feet (2,490 m)
- Baby Glacier – 48°54′19″N 114°09′14″W / 48.90528°N 114.15389°W;[18] 6,804 feet (2,074 m)
- Blackfoot Glacier – 48°35′40″N 113°40′12″W / 48.59444°N 113.67000°W;[19] 7,513 feet (2,290 m)
- Boulder Glacier – 48°57′27″N 114°05′14″W / 48.95750°N 114.08722°W;[20] 7,762 feet (2,366 m)
- Carter Glaciers – 48°53′09″N 114°02′29″W / 48.88583°N 114.04139°W;[21] 7,605 feet (2,318 m)
- Chaney Glacier – 48°51′06″N 113°49′48″W / 48.85167°N 113.83000°W;[22] 7,408 feet (2,258 m)
- Dixon Glacier – 48°55′43″N 114°00′55″W / 48.92861°N 114.01528°W;[23] 7,480 feet (2,280 m)
- Gem Glacier – 48°44′48″N 113°43′40″W / 48.74667°N 113.72778°W;[24] 8,179 feet (2,493 m)
- Grinnell Glacier – 48°45′06″N 113°43′39″W / 48.75167°N 113.72750°W;[25] 6,686 feet (2,038 m)
- Harris Glacier – 48°56′57″N 114°13′45″W / 48.94917°N 114.22917°W;[26] 6,476 feet (1,974 m)
- Harrison Glacier – 48°35′34″N 113°43′49″W / 48.59278°N 113.73028°W;[27] 8,484 feet (2,586 m)
- Herbst Glacier – 48°59′11″N 114°03′05″W / 48.98639°N 114.05139°W;[28] 7,287 feet (2,221 m)
- Hudson Glacier – 48°57′54″N 114°02′40″W / 48.96500°N 114.04444°W;[29] 7,031 feet (2,143 m)
- Ipasha Glacier – 48°50′30″N 113°48′53″W / 48.84167°N 113.81472°W;[30] 7,736 feet (2,358 m)
- Jackson Glacier – 48°35′55″N 113°42′04″W / 48.59861°N 113.70111°W;[31] 7,310 feet (2,230 m)
- Kintla Glacier – 48°55′44″N 114°11′55″W / 48.92889°N 114.19861°W;[32] 7,785 feet (2,373 m)
- Logan Glacier – 48°36′07″N 113°38′00″W / 48.60194°N 113.63333°W;[33] 7,188 feet (2,191 m)
- Lupfer Glacier – 48°28′38″N 113°30′44″W / 48.47722°N 113.51222°W;[34] 6,217 feet (1,895 m)
- Miche Wabun Glacier – 48°56′51″N 113°50′03″W / 48.94750°N 113.83417°W;[35] 6,995 feet (2,132 m)
- North Swiftcurrent Glacier – 48°47′20″N 113°46′08″W / 48.78889°N 113.76889°W;[36] 7,169 feet (2,185 m)
- Old Sun Glacier – 48°52′21″N 113°46′38″W / 48.87250°N 113.77722°W;[37] 8,566 feet (2,611 m)
- Piegan Glacier – 48°42′29″N 113°41′02″W / 48.70806°N 113.68389°W;[38] 8,205 feet (2,501 m)
- Pumpelly Glacier – 48°35′00″N 113°39′33″W / 48.58333°N 113.65917°W;[39] 8,445 feet (2,574 m)
- Pumpkin Glacier – 48°35′03″N 113°39′27″W / 48.58417°N 113.65750°W;[40] 8,232 feet (2,509 m)
- Rainbow Glacier – 48°52′45″N 114°05′13″W / 48.87917°N 114.08694°W;[41] 8,222 feet (2,506 m)
- Red Eagle Glacier – 48°35′34″N 113°37′08″W / 48.59278°N 113.61889°W;[42] 7,044 feet (2,147 m)
- The Salamander Glacier – 48°45′29″N 113°44′18″W / 48.75806°N 113.73833°W;[43] 7,231 feet (2,204 m)
- Sexton Glacier – 48°42′06″N 113°38′06″W / 48.70167°N 113.63500°W;[44] 7,303 feet (2,226 m)
- Shepard Glacier – 48°51′51″N 113°51′34″W / 48.86417°N 113.85944°W;[45] 7,595 feet (2,315 m)
- Siyeh Glacier – 48°43′52″N 113°39′17″W / 48.73111°N 113.65472°W;[46] 7,073 feet (2,156 m)
- Sperry Glacier – 48°37′23″N 113°45′44″W / 48.62306°N 113.76222°W;[47] 8,022 feet (2,445 m)
- Swiftcurrent Glacier – 48°46′04″N 113°44′41″W / 48.76778°N 113.74472°W;[48] 7,411 feet (2,259 m)
- Thunderbird Glacier – 48°56′03″N 114°02′23″W / 48.93417°N 114.03972°W;[49] 7,516 feet (2,291 m)
- Two Ocean Glacier – 48°49′57″N 114°00′41″W / 48.83250°N 114.01139°W;[50] 8,015 feet (2,443 m)
- Vulture Glacier – 48°49′36″N 114°01′20″W / 48.82667°N 114.02222°W;[51] 8,172 feet (2,491 m)
- Weasel Collar Glacier – 48°53′40″N 114°03′52″W / 48.89444°N 114.06444°W;[52] 7,185 feet (2,190 m)
- Whitecrow Glacier – 48°55′19″N 113°50′08″W / 48.92194°N 113.83556°W;[53] 6,952 feet (2,119 m)
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c "How Glacier Got Its Name". Glacier National Park. January 15, 2025. Retrieved March 6, 2025. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
- ^ "One of Our Homelands". www.nps.gov. 2020-10-14. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
- ^ The North Face (2023-05-19). Shining Mountains | The North Face. Retrieved 2025-03-06 – via YouTube.
- ^ Taliaferro, John (June 4, 2019). Grinnell: America's Environmental Pioneer and His Restless Drive to Save the West (1st ed.). Liveright Publishing. pp. 356–357. ISBN 978-1631490149.
Pp. 356-357. "Matthes, the topographer, responded to Grinnell, suggesting approximate boundaries for the refuge under consideration. "The park proposed would contain roughly 1500 sq. miles, containing upward of 50 ice-bodies and over 200 lakes," he said. "It might fitly be called Glacier National Park."
- ^ Alden, William C. (1914). "Glaciers of Glacier National Park". USGS Report: 2. Bibcode:1914usgs.rept....2A. doi:10.3133/70200436. Retrieved March 6, 2025.
- ^ a b Martin-Mikle, Chelsea J.; Fagre, Daniel B. (2019-01-01). "Glacier recession since the Little Ice Age: Implications for water storage in a Rocky Mountain landscape". Arctic, Antarctic, and Alpine Research. 51 (1): 280–289. Bibcode:2019AAAR...51..280M. doi:10.1080/15230430.2019.1634443. ISSN 1523-0430.
- ^ Glacier, Mailing Address: PO Box 128 West; Us, MT 59936 Phone: 406-888-7800 Contact. "Glacier's Glaciers - Glacier National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ a b "Status of Glaciers in Glacier National Park | U.S. Geological Survey". www.usgs.gov. 2016-04-06. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
- ^ "Is there a size criterion for a glacier? | U.S. Geological Survey". www.usgs.gov. 2017-12-31. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
- ^ Fagre, D.B., McKeon, L.A., Dick, K.A., and Fountain, A.G. (2017). "Glacier margin time series (1966, 1998, 2005, 2015) of the named glaciers of Glacier National Park, MT, USA". Science Base. doi:10.5066/F7P26WB1. Retrieved March 6, 2025.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Hall, Myrna H. P.; Fagre, Daniel B. (2003-02-01). "Modeled Climate-Induced Glacier Change in Glacier National Park, 1850–2100". BioScience. 53 (2): 131–140. doi:10.1641/0006-3568(2003)053[0131:MCIGCI]2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0006-3568.
- ^ White, Christopher (2013). The Melting World: A Journey Across America's Vanishing Glaciers. St. Martin's Press. p. 62.
P. 62. "Myrna Hall wrote a FORTRAN computer simulation model, called GLACPRED, that would predict glacial advance or retreat for each decade from 1990 to 2100 based on melting rates from historical data." Pp. 221-222. ""The old computer model, the one that predicted the Blackfoot/Jackson Glacier Complex would disappear by 2030, also estimated it would whittle down to 0.94 square miles (2.44 square kilometers) in 2010. But the glacier actually came within striking distance of that in 1998." That's nearly twelve years early. This suggests glaciers were being reduced at least a decade earlier than predicted. It looks like the big melt is on." Pp. 222. "I mention that Myrna Hall, the co-producer of the Blackfoot Model, recently compared temperature projections for 1990-2007 and discovered actual temperature increase to be twice the model-predicted rate." Pp. 222. ""That's right, without a meaningful reversal in the upward temperature trend, functioning glaciers will disappear, perhaps as early as 2020. Not 2030: a decade earlier than what we thought." He pauses a minute, then adds, "Heavy winters could push that timeline back a few years, but reckoning day will likely come sooner rather than later."
- ^ Rose, Christina Maxouris,Andy (2020-01-08). "Glacier National Park is replacing signs that predicted its glaciers would be gone by 2020". CNN. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Brown, Joel; Harper, Joel; Humphrey, Neil (2010-11-01). "Cirque glacier sensitivity to 21st century warming: Sperry Glacier, Rocky Mountains, USA". Global and Planetary Change. 74 (2): 91–98. doi:10.1016/j.gloplacha.2010.09.001. ISSN 0921-8181.
- ^ Glacier, Mailing Address: PO Box 128 West; Us, MT 59936 Phone: 406-888-7800 Contact. "Glacier Repeat Photos - Glacier National Park (U.S. National Park Service)". www.nps.gov. Retrieved 2025-03-06.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Agassiz Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Ahern Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Baby Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Blackfoot Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Boulder Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Carter Glaciers". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Chaney Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Dixon Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Gem Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Grinnell Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Harris Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Harrison Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Herbst Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Hudson Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Ipasha Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Jackson Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Kintla Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Logan Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Lupfer Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Miche Wabun Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "North Swiftcurrent Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Old Sun Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Piegan Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Pumpelly Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Pumpkin Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Rainbow Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Red Eagle Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Salamander Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Sexton Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Shepard Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Siyeh Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Sperry Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Swiftcurrent Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Thunderbird Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Two Ocean Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Vulture Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Weasel Collar Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
- ^ "Whitecrow Glacier". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior.
Further reading
- Schutz, James Willard (1926). Signposts of Adventure: Glacier National Park as the Indians Know It. Boston, New York: Houghton Mifflin Company. OCLC 1544470.
