North Cascades National Park Service Complex - Long Term Trends (U.S. National Park Service)

After passing through a short period of glacial stability in late 1990’s (Figure 16), it appears our glaciers have resumed a negative long-term trend. Along with research from Portland State University, we used 1998 aerial photos of the park to re-inventory all of the glaciers. This effort revealed a 13% decline in glacier area since the 1971 Post inventory. By mapping the maximum extent of all glaciers as identified by moraines, we estimate that glacier area has declined ~40% in the past 150 years.

Figure 16 - Cumulative Balance of NOCA Glaciers