Mount Rainier, Washington, at 14,410 feet (4,393 meters), the highest peak in the Cascade Range, is a dormant volcano whose glacier ice cover exceeds that of any other mountain in the conterminous United States. Mount Rainier has approximately 26 glaciers. It contains more than five times the glacier area of all the other Cascade volcanoes combined. Mount Baker (Washington) at 10,778 feet (3,285 meters), is also a glacier-clad volcano in the North Cascade Mountains. With 10 glaciers, it is second to Mount Rainier in both number and area of its glaciers.
Learn more: USGS Water Science School - Glaciers: Things to Know
Related Content
How would sea level change if all glaciers melted?
There is still some uncertainty about the full volume of glaciers and ice caps on Earth, but if all of them were to melt, global sea level would rise approximately 70 meters (approximately 230 feet), flooding every coastal city on the planet. Learn more: USGS Water Science School: Glaciers and Icecaps National Snow and Ice Data Center: Facts about Glaciers U.S. Global Change Research Program: Sea...
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...
What is a Benchmark Glacier?
“Benchmark Glacier” refers to four North American glaciers that have been selected for long-term glacier monitoring that investigates climate, glacier geometry, glacier mass balance, glacier motion, and stream runoff. Benchmark glaciers monitored by the USGS are: Gulkana Glacier and Wolverine Glacier in Alaska South Cascade Glacier in Washington Sperry Glacier in Montana Learn more: USGS Benchmark...
What is a glacier?
A glacier is a large, perennial accumulation of crystalline ice, snow, rock, sediment, and often liquid water that originates on land and moves down slope under the influence of its own weight and gravity. Typically, glaciers exist and may even form in areas where: mean annual temperatures are close to the freezing point winter precipitation produces significant accumulations of snow temperatures...
How old is glacier ice?
The age of the oldest glacier ice in Antarctica may approach 1,000,000 years old The age of the oldest glacier ice in Greenland is more than 100,000 years old The age of the oldest Alaskan glacier ice ever recovered (from a basin between Mt. Bona and Mt. Churchill) is about 30,000 years old. Glacier flow moves newly formed ice through the entire length of a typical Alaskan valley glacier in 100...
Are today's glaciers leftovers from the Pleistocene ice age?
Yes and no. It depends on which glaciers you are considering. Parts of the Antarctic Continent have had continuous glacier cover for perhaps as long as 20 million years. Other areas, such as valley glaciers of the Antarctic Peninsula and glaciers of the Transantarctic Mountains may date from the early Pleistocene. For Greenland, ice cores and related data suggest that all of southern Greenland and...
Do ice worms exist?
Yes, ice worms do, in fact, exist! They are small worms that live in glacial ice in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia; they have not been found in glaciers elsewhere. Contrary to stories and songs, they do not give glacier ice its blue color and they don't grow to lengths of 50 feet. These myths were made popular by poet Robert Service and the annual Cordova Iceworm Festival in...
Why is glacier ice blue?
Glacier ice is blue because the red (long wavelengths) part of white light is absorbed by ice and the blue (short wavelengths) light is transmitted and scattered. The longer the path light travels in ice, the more blue it appears. Learn more: USGS Water Science School - Glaciers: Things to Know
Where are glaciers found in continental North America?
Glaciers exist in both the United States and Canada. Most U.S. glaciers are in Alaska; others can be found in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nevada (Wheeler Peak Glacier in Great Basin National Park). Utah’s Timpanogos Glacier is now a rock glacier (in which the ice is hidden by rocks), and Idaho’s Otto Glacier has melted away. Canada has glaciers in Alberta...
Where on Earth are temperate glaciers located?
A temperate glacier (as opposed to a polar glacier) is a glacier that’s essentially at the melting point, so liquid water coexists with glacier ice. A small change in temperature can have a major impact on temperate glacier melting, area, and volume. Temperate glaciers exist on the continents of North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia; on both islands of New Zealand; and on the...
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- FAQ
How would sea level change if all glaciers melted?
There is still some uncertainty about the full volume of glaciers and ice caps on Earth, but if all of them were to melt, global sea level would rise approximately 70 meters (approximately 230 feet), flooding every coastal city on the planet. Learn more: USGS Water Science School: Glaciers and Icecaps National Snow and Ice Data Center: Facts about Glaciers U.S. Global Change Research Program: Sea...
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...
What is a Benchmark Glacier?
“Benchmark Glacier” refers to four North American glaciers that have been selected for long-term glacier monitoring that investigates climate, glacier geometry, glacier mass balance, glacier motion, and stream runoff. Benchmark glaciers monitored by the USGS are: Gulkana Glacier and Wolverine Glacier in Alaska South Cascade Glacier in Washington Sperry Glacier in Montana Learn more: USGS Benchmark...
What is a glacier?
A glacier is a large, perennial accumulation of crystalline ice, snow, rock, sediment, and often liquid water that originates on land and moves down slope under the influence of its own weight and gravity. Typically, glaciers exist and may even form in areas where: mean annual temperatures are close to the freezing point winter precipitation produces significant accumulations of snow temperatures...
How old is glacier ice?
The age of the oldest glacier ice in Antarctica may approach 1,000,000 years old The age of the oldest glacier ice in Greenland is more than 100,000 years old The age of the oldest Alaskan glacier ice ever recovered (from a basin between Mt. Bona and Mt. Churchill) is about 30,000 years old. Glacier flow moves newly formed ice through the entire length of a typical Alaskan valley glacier in 100...
Are today's glaciers leftovers from the Pleistocene ice age?
Yes and no. It depends on which glaciers you are considering. Parts of the Antarctic Continent have had continuous glacier cover for perhaps as long as 20 million years. Other areas, such as valley glaciers of the Antarctic Peninsula and glaciers of the Transantarctic Mountains may date from the early Pleistocene. For Greenland, ice cores and related data suggest that all of southern Greenland and...
Do ice worms exist?
Yes, ice worms do, in fact, exist! They are small worms that live in glacial ice in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia; they have not been found in glaciers elsewhere. Contrary to stories and songs, they do not give glacier ice its blue color and they don't grow to lengths of 50 feet. These myths were made popular by poet Robert Service and the annual Cordova Iceworm Festival in...
Why is glacier ice blue?
Glacier ice is blue because the red (long wavelengths) part of white light is absorbed by ice and the blue (short wavelengths) light is transmitted and scattered. The longer the path light travels in ice, the more blue it appears. Learn more: USGS Water Science School - Glaciers: Things to Know
Where are glaciers found in continental North America?
Glaciers exist in both the United States and Canada. Most U.S. glaciers are in Alaska; others can be found in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, and Nevada (Wheeler Peak Glacier in Great Basin National Park). Utah’s Timpanogos Glacier is now a rock glacier (in which the ice is hidden by rocks), and Idaho’s Otto Glacier has melted away. Canada has glaciers in Alberta...
Where on Earth are temperate glaciers located?
A temperate glacier (as opposed to a polar glacier) is a glacier that’s essentially at the melting point, so liquid water coexists with glacier ice. A small change in temperature can have a major impact on temperate glacier melting, area, and volume. Temperate glaciers exist on the continents of North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia; on both islands of New Zealand; and on the...
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