Barnes Ice Cap having in Landsat image with well developed melt channels from crest to margin of ice cap. Snow cover has been lost with over a month left in melt season.
Barnes Ice Cap located in the center of Baffin Island, Canada covers an area of ~5731 km2 in 2021 (Rippin et al 2026). The ice cap is approximately 150 km long, 60 km wide and has maximum ice thickness of ~730 m and a maximum ice elevation of 1124 m above sea level (asl) at the summit of the north dome. They also noted that ICESat altimeter data indicated the thinning of the BIC at a mean rate of 0.75 m/year for the 2003–2009 period. Gilbert et al (2016) Figure 5 indicates the ELA was at 950 in the 1960-80 period and is at 1100 m from 2002-2010 this leaves a limited accumulation zone area. observe that Barnes Ice Cap lost its accumulation area beginning in 2010, in part due to the longer melt season. The glacier does tend to not retain snowcover the accumulation zone consists of superimposed ice at the crest. Papasodoro et al (2016) noted that glacier wide balances were −0.52 m w.e./year from 1960 to 2013 and doubled to −1.06m w.e./year from 2005 to 2013. This has enabled supraglacial channels/valleys to develop and expand from year to year, extending from the ice cap crest to the margin, providing an effective pathway for meltwater to leave the ice sheet (Rippin et al 2026). This greatly diminishes refreezing, which had been the key mechanism for accumulation.
Glaciers on Peninsula on northern side of Home Bay having lost nearly all snowcover by July 15, 2026 in this Landsat image.
In mid-July 2026 Landsat imagery indicates the loss of all snow cover on Barnes Ice cap and that the supraglacial streams are fully activated. A series of glaciers to the east of the ice cap also have lost all snowcover including Keyhole, Kitarchick and Nuusuq Glacier. With over a month left in the melt season this will lead to substantial mass balance loss of these glaciers, driving further thinning and recession. Decade Icefield just to the north of this trio of glaciers also has lost all snow cover by mid-July.
Decade Icefield in Landsat image from mid-July has lost its snow cover.Barnes Ice Cap southeast region illustrating suprglacial stream extent and lack of snowcver from margin to summit of ice cap in Landsat image.
Miles Glacier and Van Cleve glacier lake (VC) near its maximum size on June 19th and after drainage on July 9th in Sentinel images. Glacier margin black dots.
Miles Glacier terminates in an embayment on the east side of the Copper River, Alaska. A secondary terminus on the north side of the main glacier has long impounded a glacial lake that periodically drains. As miles has retreated over the last 40 years the maximum size of the glacial dammed lake has diminished, prior to its drainage. In 1987 the glacier extended onto an outwash plain directly adjacent to the Copper River, the lake reached a maximum size of 12 km2 . From 2016 to 2019 the lake drained each summer reaching a maximum average size of 5.5 km2 (Rick et al 2023). This was noted as a shrinking ice dammed lake by Field et al (2021).
Miles Glacier and Van Cleve glacial lake filling in June 2026 in Landsat images.Glacier margin black dots.
By 2021 the glacier had retreated 3.5 km since 1987. From 2021-2026 the lake reaches a maximum size of 3.5 to 4.0 km2 before draining. On June 2, 2026 the lake still has some winter lake ice and is filling. By June 10th the lake had reached 3 km2 and by June 19th it had reached 4 km2. The lake had began draining before June 25th. By July 9th it was fully drained. The Miles Glacier terminus has retreated 4.5 km since 1987. This ongoing retreat will continue to diminish the size of the lake. Ths lake does not have the complex drainage system or changing drainage location that Berg Lake has with retreat of Stellar Glacier..
Miles Glacier and Van Cleve glacial lake in 1987 Landsat image. Black dots indicate glacier margin. Miles Glacier and Van Cleve glacial lake in 2021 Landsat image. Black dots indicate glacier margin and yellow arrow indicates 1987 margin.
Hovgard Kystland Glacier in Sentinel image from July 4, 2026 with margin indicated by black dots. The 2020 margin seen below is indicated by green dots.
Hovgard Kystland Glacier is an outlet glacier in West Greenland between Alison and Hayes Glacier. Alison Glacier had the highest retreat rate from 1976-2021 losing 14.3 km in length and 59.4 km2 in terminus area (Black and Joughin, 2026). Hayes Glacier lost 2.7 km in length and 10.8 km2 in area (Black and Joughin, 2026).. They indicate that Hovgard Kystland Glacier retreated 5.4 km and lost 21.3 km2 during this interval.
Here we examine the acceleration of retreat from 2020 to 2026. In 2020 the central tongue of the glacier extended west beyond the main front. This central tongue collapsed by July 2024 leaving a generally north/south calving front, the glacier had lost 5.7 km2 of terminus area. From July 2024 to July 2026 an embayment formed generating a concave calving front. The glacier terminus lost another 4.8 km of area. Retreat of the calving front was 2.5 km during the 2021-2026 period. The glacier has lost an area that is 50% of the area lost from 1976-2021, in the last five years. The embayment is poised to further expand, though this summer an extensive packed melange is currently in place which typically limits calving (Meng et al. 2025).
Hovgard Kystland Glacier in Sentinel image from July 27, 2020. The 2020 margin seen below is indicated by green dots and the 2026 margin with black dots.Hovgard Kystland Glacier in July 4, 2024 Sentinel image. The calving front indicated by red dots for 2024 and black dots for 2026.
Global alpine mass balance in 2024 as reported to the World Glacier Monitoring Service. Solid line is the cumulative balance, bars are the annual balance.
Each of the last 15 years I have summarized the annual mass balance of alpine glaciers globally for the Bulletin American Meterological Society-State of the Climate report,. Below is the 2024 section on alpine glaciers with a few added figures.
ALPINE GLACIERS
M. Pelto
In 2024, all 58 global reference glaciers reported a negative annual mass balance. This is only the second year in the 1970–2024 period with all negative annual balances, following 2023. The global average annual mass balance based on equal weighting of 19 regions is −1.30 m water equivalent (w.e.), the most negative value in the record
The 2024 dataset of submitted glaciological observations includes 142 glaciers from six continents and 27 nations, with 140 reporting a negative balance and 2 a positive balance. In 2024, the mean annual mass balance of the 58 global reference glaciers was −1.44 m w.e. and −1.36 m w.e. for all 142 reporting glaciers. This is a similar result to 2023, which saw a mean reference glacier balance of −1.62 m w.e. and −1.35 m w.e. for all 116 reporting glaciers.
The 2024 regionalized global average of −1.30 m w.e. exceeds the previous most negative year in 2023, which saw a regional-ized global average of −1.25 m w.e. This makes 2024 the 37th consecutive year with a global alpine mass balance loss and the 15th con-secutive year with a regionalized global mass balance below −0.5 m w.e. The acceleration of mass balance loss indicates that alpine glaciers are not approaching equilibrium. The acceleration of mass balance loss is apparent regardless of datasets used to determine it, including glaciological, geodetic, altimetry, and gravimetric observations (The GlaMBIE Team 2025). The intercomparison assessment identified that global glaciers annually lost 273+26 gigatons (Gt) in mass from 2000 to 2023, with loss having been 36% greater in the second half than in the first half of this period (The GlaMBIE Team 2025).
In the European Alps, all 49 glaciers reported negative mass balances, with 45 losing over 1 m w.e. All 10 Icelandic glaciers had negative balances. In Svalbard, all seven had negative balances exceeding an exceptional loss of 1.25 m w.e. This was the result of near complete snow cover loss across most glaciers (Fig. 2.20) following record temperatures in August (see section 7f5 for details). Twelve of the 13 glaciers from Norway and Sweden had mass losses of more than 1.0 m w.e.
High snow line persisted through the winter on Mount Everest glaciers.
Across High Mountain Asia, 20 of 21 glaciers, reporting from seven nations, had negative balances. The highest average losses were in the Himalayas of Nepal and the lowest in the Pamir Range of Tajikistan.
In the Andes Mountains of South America, all 14 glaciers, reporting from five nations, had negative balances. Conejeras Glacier (Colombia), following a 5.04 m w.e. loss in 2023, was declared extinct in 2024. The daily hydrograph below this glacier changed from a predominanceof days with a purely melt-driven hydrograph from 2006 to 2016 to an increase in the frequency of days with flows less influenced by melt after 2016 (Morán-Tejeda et al. 2018).
All 16 glaciers in North America had negative balances. All four glaciers in Arctic Canada had mass balance losses under 1 m w.e. In western Canada and Washington and Montana (United States), all 16 glaciers reporting had losses exceeding 1 m w.e. The Ice Worm Glacier (Washington) was listed as extinct in 2023 after 40 years of continuous observations (Pelto 2024). In 2024, loss from the relict ice (ice that is no longer moving or part of a glacier) was 2.4 m and melt runoff below the glacier had decreased similar to Conejeras Glacier (Pelto and Pelto 2025). In Alaska, all three glaciers had mass balance losses. Davies et al. (2024) examined the Juneau Icefield, the most observed icefield in Alaska in terms of mass balance, and found an acceleration of mass loss with a doubling after 2010 compared to 1979–2010.
Easton Glacier, Washington extensive retreat since 1990, with last five years being the most rapid. Terminus and mass balance surveyed annually and reported to WGMS.
Alpine annual mass balance glaciological observations are reported to the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) by national representatives with a 1 December annual submission deadline. WGMS reference glaciers have at least 30 continuous years of mass balance observa-tion. Benchmark glaciers have at least a 10-year mass balance record and are in regions that lack sufficient reference glaciers. The combination of benchmark and reference glaciers is used to generate regional averages (WGMS 2023). Global values are calculated using a single averaged value for each of 19 mountain regions, limiting bias from observed regions (WGMS 2023). As this dataset expands, the annual values are reanalyzed and updated.
The lack of snow pack at the end of summer is evident across Edgeoya in Svalbard, blow a closeup of Digerfonna further illustrates with lettered points indicating new bedrock areas that are expanding amidst the ice cap.
Snow line in Sentinel images from June 2026 at 2450 m on June 11 and at 2850 m on June 27th.
In June of 2025 heat waves combined with limited winter snowpack set the stage for significant glacier loss, 3% of the volume of Swiss Glacier. This followed on the exceptional losses in 2022 and 2023.
This same story in playing out through June of 2026, which will lead to this being the fourth year in the last five with exceptional glacier mass balance loss. On Grosser Aletsch Glacier on June 11th the snow line on the glacier was at 2450 m. By June 24th it had risen to 2800 m and by June 25th/27th 2850-2900 m. This is similar to the rapid rise of 400 m observed on Argentiere Glacier, France.
Grosser Aletsch Glacier snow line on June 25, 2026 averages 2850 m in this Landsat image.
The snow line rose to a record high 3200 m in 2022, and reached in 3100 m in 2025. Will 2026 set a new record? The snow line is not as high as the same date in 2022, though within ~25 m, but higher than late June 2025.
Above the late June snow line on Grosser Aletsch Glacier in 2022 and 2025 in Sentinel images. These two years had extensive June heat waves after winters with low snowpack. At the end of summer the snow line had risen to 3200 m in 2022 and 3100 m in 2025.
Glaciar Mayo terminus change from November 2025 to February 2026 illustrated in Sentinel images. The yellow dots indicate the margin, which has retreated on both sides forming a melange (M) and new icebergs (I).
Glaciar Mayo, Argentna in Los Glaciares National Park is an eastern outlet of the Southern Patagonia Ice Cap. The glacier has terminated on the northern shore of a glacial lake for the last 35 years. The mass balance from 1975-2011 was identified as slightly positive by Schaefer et al (2015). This enabled the glacier to terminate on the northern shore of a glacial lake, an arm of Lago Argentino from 1984-2020. From 2000-2019 Minowa et al (2021) noted that Glaciar Mayo had transitioned to a negative balance and overall thinning. This thinning is what has led to the terminus beginning to collapse into the lake.
The terminus tongue projecting into the lake had been 2.5 km2, had now declined to 1.4 km2. The terminus along the northern shore had been 2000 m wide and is now 1150 m wide. There is further crevassing/rifting that suggests the glacier tongue is not done thinning in 2026. This continues to be an active year for calving retreat in Patagonia as seen at Upsala and Jorge Montt Glacier, see below.
Glaciar Mayo terminus change from November 2025 to February 2026 illustrated in Landsat images. The yellow dots indicate the margin, which has retreated on both sides forming a melange (M) and new icebergs (I).Jorge Montt Glacier retreat from 2021-2026 with a particularly extensive and packed melanage in 2026, observed in Sentinel images.Tyndall Glacier 2 km retreat from 2022-2025 continues with heavily crevassed terminus front indicating an active calving retreat will continue in these Sentinel images. The terminus front is noticably higher above the water indicating thicker ice and likely deeper water.Upsala Glacier had a burst of calving in Feb. 2026. The comparison to 2021 highlights both the retreat, separation from Bertachhi Glacier and substantial drainage of Lago Guillermo.
Videla Glacier, Chile is an outlet glacier of the Cordillera Darwin Icefield. The glacier has a number (Point 1-6) of terminus lobes where retreat has led to proglacial lake development between 1997 and 2025, as seen in these annotated Landsat images.
Videla Glacier is a land terminating glacier in the northwest portion of the Cordillera Darwin Icefield (CDI) in Tierra del Fuego, Chile. The glacier has terminates in several expanding proglacial lakes each in front of a different tongue of the glacier. The glacier flows northwest from Cerro Ambience towards Fiordo Profundo. Meier et al (2018) identified area change of Patagonia glaciers from 1870-2016 with a ~16% area loss of CDI, with more than half of the loss occurring since 1985. They also noted that CDI glaciers were retreating fastest between 1986 and 2005. Izagirre et al (2025) identified a 124% increase in glacier lake area from retreat between 1945 and 2024. The retreat has been largest on tidewater glaciers such as Marinelli Glacier and Ventisquero Grande Glacier.
In 1997 of Videla Glacier’s six main terminus lobes, five did not exhibit a proglacial lake, only the two northern most lobes (Point 4, 5, and 6) ending in a fringing yet to develop proglacial lake. The terminus lobes at Point 2 and 3 were joined. By 2019 lobes 1 and 4 had developed significant proglacial lakes, while the main terminus at Point 5 and 6 had opened up two halves of the same proglacial lake. The terminus lobes at Point 2 and 3 had separated. A rib (yellow arrow) was developing upglacier of the main terminus indicating thinning and reduced flow. A new lake had developed just downstream of this rib.
In 2025 the terminus at Point 1 had receded 950 m creating a 0.75 km2 proglacial lake. Terminus Lobe 2 and 3 had separated by 400 m. At Point 4 a 0.5 km2 proglacial lake had formed with the 1050 m retreat. The main terminus at Point 5 and 6 extends across the lake basin in a narrow 350 m wide tongue. The lake has grown to 3 km2, with 1.5 km of recession from Point 6 and 1.8 km from Point 5. This narrow tongue may well break off this coming summer.
Videla Glacier, Chile ongoing retreat and proglacial lake growth at terminus lobes (1-6) illustrated by Landsat images from 2019 and 2022.
HPS-12 Glacier in 1985 and 2017 Landsat images. The red arrow indicates 1985 terminus, yellow arrows the 2017 terminus, purple dots the snowline and 1-4 are tributaries. By 2017 all tributaries have detached and the glacier has retreated 13 km.
HPS-12 is an unnamed glacier draining the west side of the Southern Patagonia Ice Cap (SPI). The glacier terminates in a fjord and is adjacent to Upsala Glacier to the east and Pio IX Glacier to the north. This developing fjord is also unnamed but feeds into Estero Falcon. Here we update the 2017 NASA Earth Observatory project I completed in 2017, that identified this as the fastest retreating glacier in Chile in the 1985-2017 period, using Landsat imagery from 1985-2025.
HPS-12 Glacier in 2015 and 2025 Landsat images. The red arrow indicates 1985 terminus, yellow arrows the 2025 terminus, black arrow the 2015 terminus. Former tributary 1 and 2 have declined in width .
In 1985 the HPS-12 terminates 1.5 km from the junction of two fjords that are occupied by HPS-12 and HPS-13. These are separated by a peninsula. The glacier is fed by four tributaries labelled 1-4. The snowline in 1985 is at 900 m. In 2001 the four tributaries still join the main glacier, but the terminus has retreated 3.5 km. In 2015 glacier retreat has led to separation of tributary 1, 2 and 4 from the main glacier, tributary 3 only feeds tributary 2 and not the main glacier. The glacier retreat has continued to 2017, the current terminus is 800 m wide vesus 2800 m wide in 1985 . Total retreat from 1985 to 2017 was 13 km. By 2025 the glacier has retreated 14.75 km and has lost more than 50% of its total length. Tributary 1 and 2 continue to narrow from 2015 to 2025 illustrating that flow from the icefield accumulation zone is being reduced. This suggests less discharge into the terminus reach of HPS-12.
This glacier follows the pattern of retreat we have reported from Bernardo Glacier, O’Higgins Glacier, Tyndall Glacier and Upsala Glacier. The retreat is driven by the SPI have been experienced significant mass loss a. Malz et al (2018) noted a ~1 m/year mass loss from 2000-2016 with HPS-12 and Jorg Montt Glacier losing the most. Minowa et al (2021) found that 35% of all ablation of the Patagonia Icefields stemmed from frontal ablation.
HPS-12 Glacier in 2001 and 2015 Landsat images. The red arrow indicates 1985 terminus, yellow arrows the 2017 terminus, purple dots the snowline and 1-4 are tributaries. By 2015 tributaries 1, 2 and 4 have detached.
Rikeva Glacier retreat in Landsat images from 2020 and 2025. Illustrates new island at Point A and retreat of land terminus at Point B and from headland at Point C.
Rikeva (Rykacheva) Glacier flows from the Northern Novaya Zemlya Ice Cap to the west coast and the Barents Sea. The glacier has been retreating rapidly like all tidewater glaciers in northern Novaya Zemlya (Pelto, 2016) (Carr et al 2014) identified an average retreat rate of 52 m/year for tidewater glaciers on Novaya Zemlya from 1992 to 2010. Maraldo and Choi (2025) identified frontal retreat rate of Novaya Zemlya glaciers from 1931-2021 and found an increased each decade since the early 1970s, reaching a peak retreat rate of 65 m/year between 2011 and 2021. We have observed the impact at Vilkitskogo Glacier and Krayniy Glacier,
In 2000 Rikeva Glacier extended beyond the island that would emerge at Point A. The landbased terminus lobe extended just beyond Point B. By 2013 the glacier had retreated adjacent to the island, with the island acting as a stabilizing point for the terminus. The terminus lobe had retreated just south and east of Point B.
Rikeva Glacier in Landsat images from 2000 and 2013 illustrating retreat to island at Point A and retreat of land terminus at Point B.
In 2018 Rikeva Glacier terminus rested on an island at Point A that acted as a buttress for the glacier terminus. By 2025 the glacier had retreated from the island with 4.5 km2 of glacier retreat since 2018 and 8 km2 of retreat since 2000.
Rikeva Glacier in Sentinel images from 2018 and 2025 illustrates retreat from Island at Point A.
Core field team in 2025 Emmett Elsom, Mauri Pelto, Jill Pelto and Caitlin Quirk.
We hiked into North Cascade glacier to complete detailed observations for our 42nd consecutive year. These annual observations provide a detailed assessment of their response to climate change. For the third consecutive year North Cascade glacier on on average lost more than 2 m of glacier thickness. This cumulative loss of 7-8 m on most of the ranges glaciers that average 25-40 m in thickness represents 20% of their volume lost in just three years. On a few of the largest glaciers, such as those on Mount Baker that average 40-60 m in thickness the loss represents 12% of their volume lost.
The consequence is an acceleration of the collapse of the North Cascade glacier system. This landscape that has for long been shaped by ice is rapidly losing that glacier element. The rate of retreat for the glaciers we work on has accelerated so quickly that we are faced each year with changing terrain and new challenges. Beyond that, we are starting to really see the effect this retreat and the decrease in water has on the ecosystems both near the glaciers and further downstream. During the field season we love seeing the wildflowers, eating blueberries, and counting mountain goats. These are all parts of a habitat that is built around glaciers and snowpack. Seeing these shifts has been really difficult, but it helps to still return to these landscapes and continue to tell their stories through science and art. Below the story is told in images with captions by each of us who participated.
Two things that stood out during the 2025 field season were the strength of our collaborations, and the changing resources the glaciers are able to provide to the surrounding ecosystem. This visible change attracted the attention of KING5-Seattle NBC affiliate and CBS Morning News. At the bottom of this post the resulting footage is embedded. The film “Shaped By Ice” Jill and I worked on with Dan McComb has been a finalist in two recent film festivals, this footage also at bottom of this long read post.
Working on Rainbow Glacier from left-Katie Hovind, Caitlin Quirk, Claire Seaman, Jill Pelto and Margaret Kingston
We worked with two oil painters, one watercolor painter, one printmaker, two news film crews, a team of botanists, and more. The result of all these collaborations has led to so many great stories being created and shared about our collective work. It also meant our core group of field assistants had to be flexible to a changing group and the sometimes difficult and imperfect logistics that accompany that. -Jill Pelto
This photograph of an icefall at 2000 m (6700 ft) on the Easton glacier encompasses the wide range of emotions that I felt working on these glaciers this summer. The focal point of the picture is the wound inflicted upon the glacier by our changing climate. Bedrock and sediment creep through the gaping wound in the lowest icefall of the Easton, the opening visible for the first time in the project’s 42-year history. The place also holds a beauty, a sense of majesty that cannot be diminished by the tragic context of our work. The seracs at the top of the scene lean at impossible angles, destined to crash down onto the slope below, piercing the quiet of the snowy expanse in dramatic fashion. The dark annual layers in the glacier speak to the age of the ice, flowing down the flank of Mt. Baker over decades. The landscape has been a facet of my life for the past few years, as it falls upon the Easton Glacier route to the mountain’s summit. The icefall has always drawn me in as I pass, sparking a profound sense of wonder. It makes me deeply sad to see the beauty of such special places diminished, sad in a way that little else does. Over the past few years, I’ve come to like visiting these places to visiting an elderly loved one. While time may change them and even take them away from us, their beauty and meaning to me will hold true.-Emmett Elsom
How does being present in a place shape our understanding? To the left is a view of Sholes Glacier, complete with my on-site rendition. I can’t express how lucky I feel to have had the chance to experience these places first hand. To interact with a place by attempting to capture its likeness — paying attention to the negative space not only between the white snowpack and black exposed rock, but in the empty, carved-out area that used to be filled with ice. Experiencing the texture of the glacier under your feet, the cool air drifting off the snow, the good tired feeling of your body after physically traversing top to bottom. This is what you don’t get from a photo. To know places such as these is to love them and see their role in the world, and want to protect them. But so many never get the chance to understand them this way.-Claire Seaman
This field season I focused on exploring the once-barren foreland a glacier leaves behind. Studying the plants growing in the wake of the Easton Glacier made me reflect on the way life responds to these major changes. This photo of a bright monkeyflower cluster in the streambed of the nearby Sholes Glacier exemplifies this resilience and optimism to me. The Sholes, in the background, drains a lifeblood that will feed the watershed downstream into the Nooksack, supporting people, fisheries, and a whole riparian ecosystem. The eventual loss of glacial ice feeding the river will be catastrophic, yet the scarred space left behind will blossom with vegetation. Witnessing firsthand how staggering the extent of glacial retreat is can be overwhelming, but that bright patch of flowers stands as encouragement. Alone in an altered landscape, those flowers will pave the way for more to follow. Change is nuanced, and as we watch it occur we can change, sharing stories of the beauty of this environment supported by ice, and adapting our lives and policies in a way that can be the difference which keeps glaciers flowing.-Katie Hovind
As a backcountry skier and oil painter focused on winter landscapes of the North Cascades, the idea of painting glaciers in the field was a dream come true! I knew what we would see and learn about the health of our glaciers from the scientists would be highly emotional, but the power of these environments disappearing in our lifetimes is something my words fail to communicate how devastating that feels. During the study on Rainbow glacier I caught on film the moment a serac collapsed, loudly crashing, crumbling from a newly melted out rock knob down the mountain splitting into smaller and smaller pieces. It looked sickly as it broke before our eyes. Another unique experience was going into a teal, translucent, otherworldly ice cave. I have started 2 paintings to capture this vanishing environment. My goal is to assist the project in translating the study’s findings through landscape paintings that communicate the beauty of these places with titles that call attention to the retreating glaciers in the North Cascades. We all have a responsibility as humans to make individual changes to combat climate change and vote like fresh water and air depends on it, because it does. -Margaret Kingston
The pace of glacier change struck me hard this summer. Never before have humans lived with such a deglaciated Cascades mountain range. Not the settlers, not the fur trappers, not the first people who have been here for 13,000 years or more. Cultures and ecosystems spawned from the retreating edge of the Cordilleran Ice sheet into the Puget Sound area. Alpine glaciers fed streams, rivers, salmon, all kinds of human projects in Washington State. Our societies are shaped by the ice and now we are experiencing glaciers disappear.
I write this at the end of the 2025 hydrological year, waiting for winter snow to shelter the land I love in a cool white blanket. The devastation of the alpine glaciers has surfaced so frequently in conversation these last couple months. Those who have seen the mountains are alarmed as beds of ice they once knew to be hundreds of feet thick look shallow and frail, ice pitches that were once climbed are now grey gullies of rock, and volcanoes which have always been white are unnervingly gray and shrouded in smoke. The realities of climate change in the Northwest are clear.
It is a painful time to care about the glaciers of the Cascades. Witnessing the erosion of something so much older and bigger and impactful than myself is staggering. There is much action to be done in this new terrain but for now, I come back to this: I sit in the dying glaciers warm light as the sun rises, summon the deepest snowfall in years and tell the glacier that we care, that we were grateful for all the help watering our food and feeding our oceans and making sure our salmon had somewhere to live. We are here because of you. -Cal WaichlerImage description: This image shows a crevasse on the Easton Glacier of Mount Baker. The saturation is distorted because I shot this photo on 35mm and pre-exposed the film to light and heat to parallel the material effects of global warming on our glacier systems. The Easton glacier is a source of water for Baker Lake, which provides recreation and hydropower to the region. When I see this photo, I think of the impacts of glacial melt to water, energy, cultural, and economic resources in Washington. -Caitlin QuirkColumbia Glacier is one of sixty global reference glaciers. This summer it lost 5% of its volume.Lower Curtis Glacier continues to rapidly thin at the top of the glacier as well as at the terminus. The glacier retained additional avalanche accumulation, leading to a less negative balance than other glaciers.Rainbow Glacier is one of the sixty global reference glaciers. This year new bedrock began to emerge and expand in several icefalls, leading to serac fall.Easton Glacier has retreated 700 m since 1990 and has a number of bedrock areas emerging in icefall up to 2500 m.Lynch Glacier east and west side are separating. The upper basin did retain some snow in 2025.Daniels Glacier lost all snowpack by the end of the summer and bedrock is quickly expanding amongst the glacier.
The trajectory for most North Cascade glaciers is one of fragmentation. This is illustrated by Foss Glacier on the east flank of Mount Hinman, that we began observing annually in 1984 but stopped measuring as it fragmented.Foss Glacier from the top was a 1 km long and nearly 600 m wide glacier. In Sept. 2025 Cal Waichler captured view from the top with the two main fragments now less than 50 m wide and 300 m long.-Mauri Pelto
Leah Pezzetti KING5 meterologist hiked in with us to Lower Curtis Glacier.
The CBS team hiked into Sholes Glacier with usspending the night, and we had three generations of Pelto’s.
Hofsjokull East is snow free on 8-17-2025 in this false color Sentinel image. This leads to ice melt, thinning and bedrock expansion at Point A-D.
Hofsjokull East, Iceland is a small ice cap east of Vatnajokull with a summit elevation of 1100 m. In the last decade the snow line has often been above the ice cap. The ice cap had an area or 4.97 km2 in 2003 declining to 2.51 km2 in 2023 (Iceland Glacier Viewer). In 2024 all 10 glaciers in Iceland had significant mass loss (Pelto, 2025).
In August 2020 the ice cap has lost nearly all of its snow cover, this occurred again in 2023 and 2024. The result in 2025 when the ice cap again lost all its snowcover, is significant glacier surface melt and thinning. This leads to expansion of bedrock. At Point A there has been rapid expansion of the bedrock knob. At Point B and C new bedrock has been exposed and rapidly expanded. At Point D a bedrock rib at the edge of the ice cap has spread into the ice cap.
The lack of snow cover indicates the ice cap no longer has an accumulation zone and cannot survive. In 2025 the ice cap area is 2.10 km2 . Ice cap area has declined by ~60 % in the last 22 years. The story here is similar to that at the larger Prándarjökull 10 km to the northeast. The summer of 2025 in Iceland was exceptional beginning with a May heatwave, followed by a July heatwave. The May heat wave led to high snow lines as summer began on Vatnajokull.
Hofsjokull East is nearly snow free on 8-14-2020 in this false color Sentinel image. Contrast the area of bedrock at Point A-Dto the 2023 and 2025 images.
Hofsjokull East is nearly snow free on 9-3-2023 in this false color Sentinel image. Point B and C now have evident bedrock areas.
Kvitkapa in Landsat images from 2014 and 2025 indicating the fragmentation from 3 to 8 different glacier parts.
In 2022, 2023 and 2024 a number of ice caps and glaciers across Svalbard lost all snow cover, ie. Edgeøya 2022. The result by 2024 was that all firn cover had been lost as well on many of the ice caps of Edgeoya, such as on Digerfonna. This largely removes the ability of meltwater to refreeze. In 2025 we again see this playing out on the ice caps of Edgeøya. This all too familiar story indicates these glaciers lack a consistent accumulation zone that is essential for their survival
Map of Kvitkapa from TopoSvalbard indicating one interconnected ice cap in 2000.
Kvitkapa is an ice cap on a peninsula on the south coast of Edgeøya Island. In a map of this region from TopoSvalbard this is a single interconnected system of glaciers. By 2014 Landsat imagery indicates the ice cap has separated into three sections. By 2025 the ice cap has fragmented into eight different parts.
On the next peninsula to the east Kvalpyntfonna has also lost all snow cover again 2025.
Kvalpyntfonna in Landsat image from 2025 having lost all its snow coverand has no residual firn from previous winters either.
Further north and east on Edgeøya the Stonebreen ice cap has also losts its snow cover and firn cover driving thinning and retreat. The consistes loss of snow cover and resultant loss of firn cover, indicates that most ice caps Edgeøya cannot be sustained.
Stonebreen in false color Sentinel image illustrating retreat from 2020-2025. The lack of retained snow cover and residual firn will lead to continued rapid thinning and retreat.
From a Glaciers Perspective 