Repeat photography provides objective visual evidence of landscape change. USGS scientists created approximately sixty repeat photography pairs that document glacier change in Glacier National Park. These photograph pairs are available as a collection hosted by the USGS Photographic Library and are publicly available for download. Modern (1997 to 2019) photographs were taken from precisely the same location as historic (1887 to 1943) photographs, enabling direct comparison of the landscape then and now. The photographs document glacier change and illustrate the impact of climate warming on the glaciers of Glacier National Park.
USGS Repeat Photography Collection
Collection Highlights (some beautiful examples)
Full Collection – two platforms to browse and download images:
The Glacier RePhoto Project - view and contribute to glacier re-photo efforts in the American West
USGS Repeat Photography Project
In 1997 the USGS began re-photographing historic glacier images to document changes to the park’s namesake features. An abundance of historic glacier imagery, captured by early twentieth century photographers interested in tourism promotion and scientific study, provides the foundation for repeat photography in Glacier National Park (GNP). USGS staff and volunteers generated repeat photograph pairs by taking copies of historic photos into the field, finding the precise location where that photograph was taken, and then repeating the same photo, years apart. Historic and modern era photo pairs were then displayed side by side in Park hotels, museums, and as shown on the GNP Glacier Repeat Photos website, for viewers to compare and assess landscape change.
Repeat photo pairs were immediately popular with the media and the public as visual representations of the impact of climate change on glaciers. Efforts to capture, archive, and provide publicly accessible images became known as the USGS Repeat Photography Project, which generated a collection of over sixty repeat photo pairs. The images have inspired artistic collaborations and museum displays, the creation of teaching materials, and a variety of public uses of the imagery which include quilting, modern dance performance, and the inclusion on a gold-plated disc orbiting the Earth with a selection of images that represent humanity.
Capturing Repeat Photographs of Glaciers
Historic glacier images for the USGS Repeat Photography Project were selected from collections at Glacier National Park Archives, the University of Montana Archives Photography Collections and the USGS Photographic Library. Historic photographs were selected for repeat photography based on the image containing clearly exposed bare ice and glacier margins that are not obscured by seasonal snow. Google Earth was used to obtain approximate photo coordinates to aid relocation of the photo point in the field. Locating the precise field position of the original photo then involved triangulation of landscape features and moving up and down the hillside to replicate exact elevation.
Field excursions to capture repeat historic images were scheduled in late summer to document the glacier free of seasonal snow at the margins. Several challenges were inherent to the late summer restriction because this window of opportunity frequently coincided with inclement weather, forest fire smoke, lengthening shadows, and early winter snowfall. For example, weeks of forest fire smoke prevented re-photography during late August and early September for at least four field seasons between 1997-2019. Only a few glaciers have trails that offer easy access, therefore, visiting most of the park’s glaciers requires multi-day backcountry travel. As a result, the most accessible glacier, Grinnell Glacier, has the most repeat photo pairs (n=23) in the Glaciers of Glacier National Park Repeat Photography Collection.
Record of a Changing Landscape
Since 1997, USGS scientists repeated and established re-photo sites for over twenty different glaciers in GNP. Glacier recession is the most striking change documented by these photo pairs. Yet close inspection of the photographs in this collection reveal other landscape changes in addition to retreating glaciers. Establishment of vegetation along newly melted glacier margins and changes in forest composition are evident in multiple photo pairs (e.g. Jackson, Sperry, and Piegan Glacier images). The collection also documents some forms of human use in the park and serves as a visual record of a dynamic landscape.
The Repeat Photography Project was one chapter of USGS glacier research. This visual documentation of glacier change in Glacier National Park paved the way for ongoing studies of glacier mass balance, glacier response to climate, and regional assessments of glacier mass change. This photograph collection complements the long term records and research insight generated from the USGS Benchmark Glacier Research project.
OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST
- Glaciers of the American West – PSU
- National Snow & Ice Data Center
- Glacier RePhoto Project
- Glaciers Online
- Re-Photos
- National Park Service Repeat Photography Teacher Trunk
Teacher Resources:
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Science in Glacier National Park
Time Series of Glacier Retreat
Status of Glaciers in Glacier National Park
Glacier Monitoring Studies
- Overview
Repeat photography provides objective visual evidence of landscape change. USGS scientists created approximately sixty repeat photography pairs that document glacier change in Glacier National Park. These photograph pairs are available as a collection hosted by the USGS Photographic Library and are publicly available for download. Modern (1997 to 2019) photographs were taken from precisely the same location as historic (1887 to 1943) photographs, enabling direct comparison of the landscape then and now. The photographs document glacier change and illustrate the impact of climate warming on the glaciers of Glacier National Park.
USGS Repeat Photography Collection
Collection Highlights (some beautiful examples)
Full Collection – two platforms to browse and download images:
The Glacier RePhoto Project - view and contribute to glacier re-photo efforts in the American West
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Boulder Glacier in 1910 (Elrod photo, GNP Archives) and in 2007 (Fagre/Pederson photo, USGS). Matching the intersection of the peaks in the background helps the repeat photographer locate the photo point. (USGS. Public domain.) USGS Repeat Photography Project
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Map of glaciers re-photographed by USGS in Glacier National Park. Red dots indicate that the associated glacier has at least one repeat photo pair in the Repeat Photography Collection. (Credit: L. McKeon, USGS Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center. Public domain.) In 1997 the USGS began re-photographing historic glacier images to document changes to the park’s namesake features. An abundance of historic glacier imagery, captured by early twentieth century photographers interested in tourism promotion and scientific study, provides the foundation for repeat photography in Glacier National Park (GNP). USGS staff and volunteers generated repeat photograph pairs by taking copies of historic photos into the field, finding the precise location where that photograph was taken, and then repeating the same photo, years apart. Historic and modern era photo pairs were then displayed side by side in Park hotels, museums, and as shown on the GNP Glacier Repeat Photos website, for viewers to compare and assess landscape change.
Repeat photo pairs were immediately popular with the media and the public as visual representations of the impact of climate change on glaciers. Efforts to capture, archive, and provide publicly accessible images became known as the USGS Repeat Photography Project, which generated a collection of over sixty repeat photo pairs. The images have inspired artistic collaborations and museum displays, the creation of teaching materials, and a variety of public uses of the imagery which include quilting, modern dance performance, and the inclusion on a gold-plated disc orbiting the Earth with a selection of images that represent humanity.
Capturing Repeat Photographs of Glaciers
Historic glacier images for the USGS Repeat Photography Project were selected from collections at Glacier National Park Archives, the University of Montana Archives Photography Collections and the USGS Photographic Library. Historic photographs were selected for repeat photography based on the image containing clearly exposed bare ice and glacier margins that are not obscured by seasonal snow. Google Earth was used to obtain approximate photo coordinates to aid relocation of the photo point in the field. Locating the precise field position of the original photo then involved triangulation of landscape features and moving up and down the hillside to replicate exact elevation.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.USGS employee captures a repeat photo of Grinnell and Salamander Glaciers from the summit of Mt. Gould in Glacier National Park. (Public domain.) Field excursions to capture repeat historic images were scheduled in late summer to document the glacier free of seasonal snow at the margins. Several challenges were inherent to the late summer restriction because this window of opportunity frequently coincided with inclement weather, forest fire smoke, lengthening shadows, and early winter snowfall. For example, weeks of forest fire smoke prevented re-photography during late August and early September for at least four field seasons between 1997-2019. Only a few glaciers have trails that offer easy access, therefore, visiting most of the park’s glaciers requires multi-day backcountry travel. As a result, the most accessible glacier, Grinnell Glacier, has the most repeat photo pairs (n=23) in the Glaciers of Glacier National Park Repeat Photography Collection.
Record of a Changing Landscape
Since 1997, USGS scientists repeated and established re-photo sites for over twenty different glaciers in GNP. Glacier recession is the most striking change documented by these photo pairs. Yet close inspection of the photographs in this collection reveal other landscape changes in addition to retreating glaciers. Establishment of vegetation along newly melted glacier margins and changes in forest composition are evident in multiple photo pairs (e.g. Jackson, Sperry, and Piegan Glacier images). The collection also documents some forms of human use in the park and serves as a visual record of a dynamic landscape.
The Repeat Photography Project was one chapter of USGS glacier research. This visual documentation of glacier change in Glacier National Park paved the way for ongoing studies of glacier mass balance, glacier response to climate, and regional assessments of glacier mass change. This photograph collection complements the long term records and research insight generated from the USGS Benchmark Glacier Research project.
Sources/Usage: Public Domain.Grinnell Glacier in 1910 and 2016. Retreat resulted in glacier fragmentation, so the 2016 scene shows both Grinnell Glacier, hugging the base of the cliff, and The Salamander Glacier, perched above, along the right edge of the photograph. (Credit: 1910-Elrod photo, U of M Collection and 2016-McKeon photo, USGS. Public domain.) OTHER LINKS OF INTEREST
- Glaciers of the American West – PSU
- National Snow & Ice Data Center
- Glacier RePhoto Project
- Glaciers Online
- Re-Photos
- National Park Service Repeat Photography Teacher Trunk
Teacher Resources:
- Science
Below are other science projects associated with this project.
Science in Glacier National Park
Glacier National Park (GNP) is considered a stronghold for a large diversity of plant and animal species and harbors some of the last remaining populations of threatened and endangered species such as grizzly bear and bull trout, as well as non threatened keystone species such as bighorn sheep and black bear. The mountain ecosystems of GNP that support these species are dynamic and influenced by...Time Series of Glacier Retreat
The retreat of glaciers (see PDF at end of page) in Glacier National Park, Montana, has received widespread attention by the media, the public, and scientists because it is a clear and poignant indicator of change in the northern Rocky Mountains of the USA. In 2017, the USGS and Portland State University released a dataset which describes the areas of the 37 named glaciers in Glacier National Park...Status of Glaciers in Glacier National Park
Glaciers on the Glacier National Park (GNP) landscape have ecological value as a source of cold meltwater in the otherwise dry late summer months, and aesthetic value as the park’s namesake features. USGS scientists have studied these glaciers since the late 1800s, building a body of research that documents widespread glacier change over the past century. Ongoing USGS research pairs long-term data...Glacier Monitoring Studies
The purpose of the CCME's glacier monitoring studies is to systematically monitor changes in Glacier National Park’s namesake glaciers and to determine the causes of changes, assess their ecological and hydrological effects, and predict future changes and effects. - Data
- Multimedia
- Publications