Nearly All Of Washington State's 700 Glaciers In Rapid Retreat

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LEAVENWORTH — "The South Cascade Glacier has been shrinking at such a rapid pace over the past three decades that scientists predict it could melt away completely within a century. South Cascade is one of only a few ice fields in the world being studied for long-term effects of climate changes, The Wenatchee World reported yesterday. Scientists have been studying it since 1959 to better understand connections between glaciers and global warming, weather and water supply, nature and humans.

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Nearly all of the state's 700 glaciers are receding rapidly, and others have disappeared in the past few decades.

Since 1983, students from Nichols College in Dudley, Mass., have been studying glaciers in the North Cascades, nearly all of which drain into the Columbia River system. Near Mount Stuart, the college recorded 15 glaciers in 1969. Now there are 12, four of them dwindling rapidly.

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The glacier has been alternately advancing and shrinking since the last Ice Age, he said. Since its last major advance in the late 1500s, the glacier has retreated more than three-quarters of a mile. About a third of that retreat has occurred since 1959. "We are concerned that the rate of decrease in the glacial size and mass seems to have gotten a lot more rapid in the last 25 to 30 years," Savoca said."

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