<
https://crosscut.com/environment/2022/08/rainiers-largest-glacier-melting-heres-what-means-downstream>
"Dr. Claire Todd walked down loose volcanic rock into a steep valley where the
Emmons glacier once stretched into Mount Rainier National Park. She, along with
a team of her geology students, then made a 1-mile trek to the end of the
glacier, where an ice cave gushed water into the turbulent White River.
“We’re looking down into the belly of the beast,” said Todd, professor of
geological sciences at California State University, San Bernardino. “It takes a
lot of heat and melt to get this thing cranking for the season.”
Glaciers are essentially slow-moving rivers of ice and snow that hold water
like a storage tank. During summer months, their melt flows into streams and
rivers. Emmons — the largest glacier in the continental U.S. — is an important
freshwater source for the Puget Sound, feeding into the White River that runs
along state Route 410. Although Emmons grew in size each winter for decades,
its surface is now melting irregularly, which raises questions about flooding
and water supply as the climate warms.
More research is needed to understand what the future could bring, as well as
climate policy to significantly lower greenhouse gases and slow climate change.
The Inflation Recovery Act, recently passed in the U.S. Senate, is aimed in
this direction, including a goal to cut carbon emissions by about 40% by 2030
and invest in clean energy sources.
This July, like every summer for the last 14 years, Todd hiked to Emmons to
sample water quality and measure debris ranging from boulders of solidified
lava to fragments of talus, or alpine rock. Her fieldwork, currently funded by
NASA and the University of Washington, allows for sampling that significantly
adds to the information gathered through aerial mapping"
Via stefani banerian and Susan ****
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
