May 11, 2017

Montana's glaciers disappearing due to climate change

Rural Blog - Climate change has reduced the 37 glaciers in Montana's Glacier National Park and two on nearby U.S. Forest Service land by 39 percent since 1966, with some glaciers having seen reductions as much as 85 percent, says a study by the U.S. Geological Survey and Portland State University.

Daniel Fagre, a research ecologist with the USGS's Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, told CNN's Steve Almasy and Mayra Cuevas, "The trend right now is that they are inexorably going into their final demise. There is no chance they will go into rebirth. In several decades they will be mostly gone. They will grow so small that they will disappear. They will certainly be gone before the end of the century."

Portland State geologist Andrew G. Fountain said, “While the shrinkage in Montana is more severe than some other places in the U.S., it is in line with trends that have been happening on a global scale." Fagre told CNN that "in the mid-1800s there were about 150 glaciers on the land, which was designated a national park in 1910. Rising temperatures caused the others to disappear."

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