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HISTORIC DEMISE OF SELECTED GLACIERS IN THE BEARTOOTH MOUNTAINS OF MONTANA: AN UPDATE UTILIZING OVER 120 YEARS OF PHOTGRAPHIC AND CLIMATIC DATA

Abstract

Successive summers of sustained elevated temperature maxima during 2006, 2007, 2011--2014, and 2016 have brought about nearly total decimation of the Castle Rock and Grasshopper Glaciers, once the largest glaciers in the region; and significantly reduced the size of the Snowdrift and Wolf Glaciers since the last study was conducted in 2005. Prior ice-margin loss and regional drought in the interval between 1978-2000 reduced glacier size below the sustainability threshold. Summer temperature and winter snowfall data of the last 11 years provided by higher elevation Sno-tel stations suggest seasonal elevated temperature minima as a significant factor in their accelerated disappearance.

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