Geologic Publications for Mount Rainier

Disappearing glaciers of the Oregon Cascades, USA

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Author(s): Anders E. Carlson, Nicolas Bakken-French, Megan Thayne, Sam Pappas, Daniela Molnar, Dylan Rood

Category: PUBLICATION
Document Type:
Publisher: Annals of Glaciology
Published Year: 2026
Volume: 67
Number: e1
Pages: 6
DOI Identifier: 10.1017/aog.2025.10037
ISBN Identifier:
Keywords: climate change glacier mapping mountain glaciers

Abstract:
The Oregon Cascades had 35 named glaciers on seven volcanoes in the 1980s, with 34 of those glaciers remaining by 2000. Here, we document the glaciers that fall into the Global Glacier Casualty List categories based on five years of field observations of these 34 glaciers. Five glaciers have disappeared, four have almost disappeared and eight are critically endangered. Thus, half of the Oregon Cascades named glaciers have disappeared, almost disappeared, or reached critically endangered status in the 21st century. Between 1980 and 2024, the May–October ablation season of the Oregon Cascades region warmed at ∼0.3°C per decade, with a 2020–24 mean temperature ∼1.7°C warmer than the 1975–84 mean. In contrast, there was no significant trend in November–April accumulation season precipitation. Given the significant rise in melt-season temperature, we attribute ongoing glacier disappearance in the Oregon Cascades to the warming climate.



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Suggested Citations:
In Text Citation:
Carlson and others (2026) or (Carlson et al., 2026)

References Citation:
Carlson, A.E., N. Bakken-French, M. Thayne, S. Pappas, D. Molnar, and D. Rood, 2026, Disappearing glaciers of the Oregon Cascades, USA: Annals of Glaciology, Vol. 67, No. e1, 6 p., doi: 10.1017/aog.2025.10037.