The guest blogger is Tom Kenworthy, Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress. The U.S. Geological Survey images below show the retreat of South Cascade Glacier, Wash.
For a half century the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has been closely studying changes in glaciers in three different climatic regions in Alaska and Washington state. In a new report, the Interior Department agency details “recent dramatic shrinkage” in the Wolverine and Gulkana glaciers in Alaska and the South Cascade glacier in Washington state’s Cascade Mountains.
“Since 1989,” USGS reports, “the cumulative net balances of all three glaciers show trends of rapid and sustained mass loss.”
USGS scientist Edward Josberger said the changes observed in the three U.S. glaciers are consistent with other shrinking glacers around the world as they respond to climate change. “There is no doubt that most mountain glaciers are shrinking worldwide in response to a warming climate,” Josberger said.
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