DUDLEY  — There was once a time when Glaciologist Dr. Mauri Pelto skied his way to the radiant blue glaciers that bespeckle the North Cascades. 

“I used to ski every summer on the glaciers, but there’s just not enough snow to make it worth it,” said Pelto.

The longtime professor of environmental science at Nichols College has been studying the impact of climate change on the North Cascades for 38 years. He began his research during his first year as a graduate student at the University of Maine. 

“I started the project back in 1983 because climate change was happening and you could start watching it really from an early stage,” Pelto explained.

Prior to 1983, the United States Geological Survey was only studying one glacier per mountain range. However, when climate change became a known issue, the National Academy of Sciences made the monitoring of larger samples of glaciers across a given mountain range a priority, creating an opportunity for the young Pelto to pursue his academic interests in the field.

Over the years, Pelto has recorded the depleting mass of a great many glaciers, including the Taku Glacier in Alaska and glaciers on Mount Everest. According to a release from Nichols College, Pelto documented the appearance of snow-free glaciers one winter on Mount Everest caused by record warmth in January.

He’s also on the Science Advisory Board at NASA Earth Observatory. Using the Earth monitoring Landsat satellites that NASA and USGS launched into space in 1972, Pelto has been mapping the surface elevation of glaciers. He also works in the field, measuring snow depth and the terminus points of glaciers by hand.

According to usgs.gov, in 1972, Earth monitoring Landsat satellites were launched into space by NASA and USGS to assist land managers, earth scientists and policymakers in making informed decisions about natural resources and the environment.

Yet despite all these efforts, last August, while accompanied by a reporter from National Geographic in the North Cascades, Pelto found that the volume loss of the glaciers in 2021 was over 5% of the total, the highest loss in volume he’s ever observed. 

“It varied, but it was between 5-10% of the entire glacier,” said Pelto, adding that he observed the same volume loss at other glacial sites he’s been studying. “It was pretty consistent. It didn’t matter if you were at the project at the North Cascades, or other projects up in British Columbia and Alberta, and I did some work in Mount Shasta, it was the same result down there. So, with widespread loss of 5-10% of glacier volume, it doesn’t take you long to lose a glacier at that rate.”

Pelto attributes the glacial melting to climate change. Climate change, he said, is caused by greenhouse gasses released into the atmosphere, which have resulted in an increase of heat waves, especially in the last two years. 

“The glaciers are being impacted by consistently higher temperatures,” said Pelto, who added that if the glaciers of the world melt, stream flows will decline and water temperatures will go up, “which is not a great thing for Salmon.”

“Think of the glaciers as a natural reservoir,” he said. “They sit up there melting every day, releasing water just like a reservoir would.”

Pelto says that the deleterious effects of climate change could be decreased if policymakers would “accelerate the use of alternative sources of energy production other than fossil fuels.”

To read National Geographic’s feature on Pelto’s research in the North Cascades, please go to: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/this-50-year-project-follows-the-impacts-of-the-cascades-melting-glaciers.