What are the impacts of glacier loss, other than losing an aesthetic landscape feature?
Glaciers act as reservoirs of water that persist through summer. Continual melt from glaciers contributes water to the ecosystem throughout dry months, creating perennial stream habitat and a water source for plants and animals. The cold runoff from glaciers also affects downstream water temperatures. Many aquatic species in mountainous environments require cold water temperatures to survive. Some aquatic insects--fundamental components of the food web--are especially sensitive to stream temperature and cannot survive without the cooling effects of glacial meltwater. Such changes in stream habitat may also adversely impact native trout and other keystone salmon species.
Related Content
Does the USGS monitor global warming?
What is the difference between global warming and climate change?
How old is glacier ice?
How many glaciers currently exist in Alaska?
How much of the Earth's water is stored in glaciers?
How would sea level change if all glaciers melted?
How do we know glaciers are shrinking?
Glacier retreat in Glacier National Park, Montana
Currently, the volume of land ice on Earth is decreasing, driving consequential changes to global sea level and local stream habitat. Glacier retreat in Glacier National Park, Montana, U.S.A., is one example of land ice loss and glacier change. The U.S. Geological Survey Benchmark Glacier Project conducts glaciological research and collects field...
Florentine, Caitlyn
Assessing hazards along our Nation's coasts
Coastal areas are essential to the economic, cultural, and environmental health of the Nation, yet by nature coastal areas are constantly changing due to a variety of events and processes. Extreme storms can cause dramatic changes to our shorelines in a matter of hours, while sea-level rise can profoundly alter coastal environments over decades....
Hapke, Cheryl J.; Brenner, Owen; Henderson, Rachel E. ; Reynolds, B.J.
State of the Earth’s cryosphere at the beginning of the 21st century : glaciers, global snow cover, floating ice, and permafrost and periglacial environments: Chapter A in Satellite image atlas of glaciers of the world
This chapter is the tenth in a series of 11 book-length chapters, collectively referred to as “this volume,” in the series U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1386, Satellite Image Atlas of Glaciers of the World. In the other 10 chapters, each of which concerns a specific glacierized region of Earth, the authors used remotely...
Williams, Richard S.; Ferrigno, Jane G.; Williams, Richard S.; Ferrigno, Jane G.
Changing Arctic ecosystems - measuring and forecasting the response of Alaska's terrestrial ecosystem to a warming climate
The Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska is a complex landscape of lakes, streams, and wetlands scattered across low relief tundra that is underlain by permafrost. This region of the Arctic has experienced a warming trend over the past three decades, leading to thawing of on-shore permafrost and the disappearance of sea ice at an unprecedented...
Pearce, John M.; DeGange, Anthony R.; Flint, Paul L.; Fondell, Tom F.; Gustine, David D.; Holland-Bartels, Leslie E.; Hope, Andrew G.; Hupp, Jerry W.; Koch, Joshua C.; Schmutz, Joel A.; Talbot, Sandra L.; Ward, David H.; Whalen, Mary E.
The United States National Climate Assessment - Alaska Technical Regional Report
The Alaskan landscape is changing, both in terms of effects of human activities as a consequence of increased population, social and economic development and their effects on the local and broad landscape; and those effects that accompany naturally occurring hazards such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and tsunamis. Some of the most prevalent...
Markon, Carl J.; Trainor, Sarah F.; Chapin, F. Stuart; Markon, Carl J.; Trainor, Sarah F.; Chapin, F. Stuart
USGS science for the Nation's changing coasts; shoreline change assessment
The coastline of the United States features some of the most popular tourist and recreational destinations in the world and is the site of intense residential, commercial, and industrial development. The coastal zone also has extensive and pristine natural areas, with diverse ecosystems providing essential habitat and resources that support...
Thieler, E. Robert; Hapke, Cheryl J.
Effects of ocean acidification and sea-level rise on coral reefs
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) scientists are developing comprehensive records of historical and modern coral reef growth and calcification rates relative to changing seawater chemistry resulting from increasing atmospheric CO2 from the pre-industrial period to the present. These records will provide the scientific foundation for predicting future...
Yates, K.K.; Moyer, R.P.
Climate change and wildlife health: direct and indirect effects
Climate change will have significant effects on the health of wildlife, domestic animals, and humans, according to scientists. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change projects that unprecedented rates of climate change will result in increasing average global temperatures; rising sea levels; changing global precipitation patterns, including...
Hofmeister, Erik K.; Moede Rogall, Gail; Wesenberg, Katherine; Abbott, Rachel C.; Work, Thierry M.; Schuler, Krysten; Sleeman, Jonathan M.; Winton, James
Why Study Paleoclimate?
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) researchers are at the forefront of paleoclimate research, the study of past climates. With their unique skills and perspective, only geologists have the tools necessary to delve into the distant past (long before instrumental records were collected) in order to better understand global environmental conditions that...
Robinson, Marci; Dowsett, Harry
Fifty-Year Record of Glacier Change Reveals Shifting Climate in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, USA
Fifty years of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) research on glacier change shows recent dramatic shrinkage of glaciers in three climatic regions of the United States. These long periods of record provide clues to the climate shifts that may be driving glacier change. The USGS Benchmark Glacier Program began in 1957 as a result of research efforts...
Integrated watershed scale response to climate change for selected basins across the United States
As the questions of climate change has moved from “if” it is happening to “how” it is changing our environment, it has become important to have regional assessment designs to allow us to better understand how changes are occurring now and in the future. The authors are using the Precipitatation Runoff Modeling System (PRMS) to assess the potential...
Markstrom, Steven L.; Hay, Lauren E.
Impacts of Low-Flow and Stream-Temperature Changes on Endangered Atlantic Salmon - Current Research
Recent climate studies in New England and the northeastern United States have shown evidence of physical changes over time, including trends toward earlier snowmelt runoff, decreasing river ice, and increasing spring water temperatures. A U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) study funded by the National Global Warming and Wildlife Science Center will be...
Dudley, Robert W.; Hodgkins, Glenn A.; Letcher, Benjamin H.
Glaciers Rapidly Shrinking and Disappearing: 50 Years of Glacier Change in Montana
The warming climate has dramatically reduced the size of 39 glaciers in Montana since 1966, some by as much as 85 percent, according to data released by the U.S. Geological Survey and Portland State University.
Fifty Years of Glacier Change Research in Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of the longest continuous glacier research efforts in North America.
From Icefield to Ocean - What Glacier Change Might Mean for the Future of Alaska
Frozen bodies of ice cover nearly 10 percent of the state of Alaska, but the influence of glaciers on the environment, tourism, fisheries, hydropower, and other important Alaska resources is rarely discussed.
Rare Insect Found Only in Glacier National Park Imperiled by Melting Glaciers
The persistence of an already rare aquatic insect, the western glacier stonefly, is being imperiled by the loss of glaciers and increased stream temperatures due to climate warming in mountain ecosystems, according to a new study released in Freshwater Science.
Brown bears (Ursus arctos) and Chum (Salmon Oncorhynchus)
Bear predation on salmon can be high in many Alaskan rivers. Brown bears Ursus arctos and Chum Salmon Oncorhynchus keta are managed concurrently in McNeil River State Game Sanctuary by Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game to benefit the salmon, bears, commercial fishers, and provide unparalleled close-up bear viewing and photography opportunities for the public.
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Glacial fed alpine stream in Glacier National Park.
Scientists sample for alpine insects in streams like this near Blackfoot Glacier in Glacier National Park. Alpine streams environments in the northern Rocky Mountains are especially vulnerable to climate change due to rapid warming resulting in loss of glaciers and snowpack. Glacier National Park is iconic of the combined impacts of climate change and snow and ice loss –
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Western glacier stonefly on a snowy backdrop in Glacier National Park
A glacier stonefly (Zapada glacier) on a snowy backdrop in Glacier National Park. The species is threatened by climate warming induced glacier and snow loss and has been petitioned for protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act due to climate-change-induced habitat loss.
Western Glacier Stonefly
The rare western glacier stonefly (Zapada glacier) is native to Glacier National Park and is seeking habitat at higher elevations due to warming stream temperature and glacier loss due to climate warming.
Western Glacier Stonefly
The rare western glacier stonefly (Zapada glacier) is native to Glacier National Park and is seeking habitat at higher elevations due to warming stream temperature and glacier loss due to climate warming.
Glacial Aquifer System
Glacial Aquifer System in the Midwest, near Canton, IL; Bill Morrow getting to the field early.
Erosion and climate change along Alaska's Arctic Coast
Erosion and climate change along Alaska's Arctic Coast
Retreating Glacier and Runoff from Glacial Melt
Retreating glacier south of Mt. Pendleton in Denali National Park, Alaska, with runoff from glacial melt seen in the foreground.