43rd Field Season of North Cascade Glacier Climate Project

Lower Curtis Glacier terminus in 2025 with overall results of our work 1984-2025. 2026 Field Season: For the 43rd consecutive summer we are heading into the field to measure and communicate the impact of climate change on North Cascade glaciers. This field season follows the 2021-2025 seasons that featured either historic heat waves and/or periods of extended warm weather. The heat led to a greater exposure of bare ice on glaciers with a higher albedo and greater density. The observed melt rates are 7-9 cm/day water equivalent during warm weather events vs 4-6 cm/day for snow surfaces. This led to substantial mass losses on North Cascade glacier for the five years of ~8m. This winter was poor and the summer will be hard on glaciers. Science objectives: We will complete detailed measurements on 10 glaciers, three of which are part of the World Glacier Monitoring Service reference glacier network (48 glaciers globally), which have 30+ consecutive years of mass balance observations. This…