Glaciers loom as ancient, little-changing rivers of ice creeping along their paths. During the last century, startling consistent retreat, measured sometimes in miles rather than inches, indicates climate change, not a short-term weather fluke. Some glaciers might soon vanish. Gary Braasch compares old photos to his more recent images to provide graphic proof of consistent glacier retreat in South America, Europe, and the US.
TROPICAL RETREAT. In 1999 in the Peruvian Andes, photographer Gary Braasch held Kinzl's 1933 photo of Broggi glacier, near Huascaran, while rephotographing the scene to capture the difference. Glaciers everywhere in the world (with very few exceptions) have been shrinking throughout the 20th Century, a prime signal of rapid global warming. Loss of tropical glaciers is particularly striking; this glacier receded about one kilometer in the 66 years between photos.
GLACIER-LESS NATIONAL PARK. Grinnell glacier in Glacier National Park, USA has receded almost out of sight, as shown in a comparison of a 1911 park photographer's image and that of Gary Braasch in 2000. Estimates by a US National Park Service scientist are that all but a few of the 30 glaciers in this northern Rocky Mountains park will be gone by mid-century.
GLACIER-LESS NATIONAL PARK. Grinnell glacier in Glacier National Park, USA has receded almost out of sight, as shown in a comparison of a 1911 park photographer's image and that of Gary Braasch in 2000. Estimates by a US National Park Service scientist are that all but a few of the 30 glaciers in this northern Rocky Mountains park will be gone by mid-century.
VALLEYS INSTEAD OF GLACIERS. Perhaps the most dramatic glacier withdrawal has been in the Alps in full view of residents, tourists, and scientists. This is an 1859 etching of the Rhone glacier in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland when the ice filled the valley right to the tiny crossroads of Gletch. In 2001 the glacier was nearly out of sight, 2 and a half kilometers away and about 450 M higher in elevation.
VALLEYS INSTEAD OF GLACIERS. Perhaps the most dramatic glacier withdrawal has been in the Alps in full view of residents, tourists, and scientists. This is an 1859 etching of the Rhone glacier in the Bernese Oberland, Switzerland when the ice filled the valley right to the tiny crossroads of Gletch. In 2001 the glacier was nearly out of sight, 2 and a half kilometers away and about 250 M higher in elevation.
1859 etching by Eugene Ciceri, from a monograph "Uber die Furka" by Stefan Wagner, Limburg a.d. Lahn, Germany, 1999. Used by permission.
REMOTE EFFECTS. Glacier Ururashraju, hidden away at about 15,000 feet in Cordillera Blanca of Peru, was photographed in 1986 by Peruvian glaciologist Alcides Ames. His studies and direction led Gary Braasch to rephotograph it in 1999. The two photographs depict a retreat of about 500 M in the intervening thirteen years.
REMOTE EFFECTS. Glacier Brioggi, hidden away at about 15,000 feet in Cordillera Blanca of Peru, was photographed in 1986 by Peruvian glaciologist Alcides Ames. His studies and direction led Gary Braasch to rephotograph it in 1999. The two photographs depict a retreat of about 500 M in the intervening thirteen years.
