Have you been to Glacier National Park?

Question

If you have, have you seen the difference in the glaciers in the last five years?

Answer 1

I would love to go there before the last of the glaciers melts. I hear regular reports about the glaciers and understand that there are now just 4 glaciers remaining from the 150 or so that there were. I guess I'm going to have to get there pretty quickly, although being in the UK does make it more than just a weekend drive out.

I've seen glaciers in many parts of the world - through my job and through my hobbies climbing mountains, skiing etc. Some of the Greenlandic glaciers are retreating by an incredible 40 metres per day - five and a half feet an hour. In many places there are now lakes or dry valleys where there were glaciers a few years ago. There have been some dramatic changes in the Alps (my playground) and in South America.

Answer 2

I have not been there. I plan to go next decade, but I have read that the Glaciers in that parking were shrinking at a faster rate in the 1930's than they are now. The glaciers stopped shrinking in the late 40's, and then started skrinking again in the late 70's. It's the Pacific Decadal Oscillation altering the jet streams, coupled with the increase in temerature that have been starving the glaciers of moisture. They should either stop shrinking or start growing again over the next thirty years if the cycle holds true.

http://www.penraker.com/archives/007569.html
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Answer 3

Denialist It-Once-Was-A-Glacier National Park.

Answer 4

The Glaciers have been retreating for hundreds or thousands of years. I visited the parks and they said that at one time they were not even there. I believe they said they they grow and then recede, then grow again. They said many places in the Rockies where people live now were formed by Glaciers. It is all very confusing.

Answer 5

We spent several days at Glacier back in the summer of 2006 - it was beautiful.

As for having seen the differences in the glaciers - Nope. I didn't see a difference because that was my first trip to Glacier... Now, several of the rangers we spoke with did mention how they're forecasting that the glaciers may be gone in the next 30 years or so - but predicting the future that far out is far more difficult than a weatherman giving a 10 day forecast...and we all know how often the National Weather Service gets days 8, 9, & 10 of that forecast correct...

One thing I did notice - which doesn't have to do with Global Warming or anything like that - is that in some cases, rangers are fairly ignorant about the topics they're trying to educate the public about. One young ranger was trying to inform everyone that a certain moss/fungus that's growing on trees doesn't harm trees because it just grows on the "dead branches". When she was told she was wrong, well...let's just say that she was fairly vehement about her being right...even though all around us the moss/fungus was growing on live branches that it hadn't killed yet.

Yup. The fungus is actually a parasite that kills trees - not one that attaches to only dead branches...

Another question I have about Park Rangers, is WHY are they always from "other" parts of the country than the area they're trying to represent? Seriously... The majority of the rangers that I've spoken to in Zion National Park in Utah are from the Eastern United States... Death Valley National Park? Again, the Eastern US. Glacier? Once more the Eastern US.

Why can't the Park Service hire people to work in National Parks from the areas where those parks are located? You know... People who know the area, including past climate trends of those areas, and histories of those areas???

Instead, it seems they actively seek out candidates who are young, and who have been educated to their certain standard of "thinking"...

Answer 6

the glaciers are melting seriously about 3 inches of linear height every year

Answer 7

Yes.

And it's quite clear. It's even more clear if you look at the pictures they have posted of 100 years ago.

But note that one area is not either proof or disproof of global warming. One reason this is so hard for many people to accept is that the proof is only in looking at global data.

Scientists are used to judging situations that way - laypeople, not so much.

And the data clearly shows that MOST glaciers are receding.

Answer 8

I'm glad the glaciers are gone.
They have been in retreat for thousands of years.
It's getting warmer and that is for the most part good.
And we are not causing it.

Answer 9

no but i see in reports they have retreated badly

Answer 10

I heard there dirty now which is also accelerating there melting.