300 US West Glaciers Lost Since 1960s — SkimNews
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- US west glaciers have shrunk by a third in area since the 1960s, with about 300 now functionally gone due to rising temperatures from fossil fuel-driven climate change
- Andrew Fountain led the first comprehensive inventory of glaciers in the lower 48 states, using satellite and aerial data to document their rapid retreat across six western states
- Smaller, south-facing glaciers below 9,000ft in the Sierra Nevada and under 6,000ft in the Cascades have experienced the fastest rates of shrinkage
- Mount Hood and Mount Rainier are likely the only western peaks to retain diminished glaciers past 2100, as most others are projected to disappear within decades
- Eric Rignot warned that melting glaciers destabilize mountain terrain, increasing risks of sudden collapses like the 2023 Tibet-Nepal disaster that killed at least 1,400 people
- Glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica have lost 12.5tn tons of ice since 1979, contributing an inch to global sea level rise and worsening coastal flooding
Why it matters: Western US ecosystems and agriculture lose critical summer water sources as glaciers vanish, while communities face heightened risks from unstable terrain and sea level rise—changes already accelerating with 300 glaciers gone and emissions still unchecked.
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