At the close of 2024, we have a few recent updates on Oregon's glaciers in addition to our 4 Year Impact Report available here.
First, we request your financial support to continue this work into 2025! OGI is a 501 (c) 3 staffed only by volunteers. Please donate by clicking the "donate now" link on our homepage here.
Second, with new satellite imagery, we can confirm that Waldo Glacier on Mt. Jefferson is now a dead glacier, no longer flowing with only a few remnant stagnant ice patches. This brings the number of flowing glaciers in Oregon down to 26. In 2020 when OGI was founded, Waldo was still a flowing glacier.
Third, we have now reconstructed a record of end-of-summer snow cover for Reid Glacier on Mt. Hood back to 1985 using satellite imagery. Dividing this snow area by the glacier area is called the accumulation area ratio (AAR). Since 2018, Reid Glacier's AAR has been below 0.3, the threshold needed to keep a viable flowing glacier. While other pre-2018 years have also been below 0.3, this has never occurred for more than 3 years in a row (1990-1992). This means that the current climate is already too hot to sustain Reid, similar to our AAR findings for Hayden and Collier glaciers in the Three Sisters. Converseley, while Eliot Glacier on Mt. Hood is retreating, it has yet to cross this threshold.
Again, please donate to continue our work. Happy Holidays!
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