Given the rate at which climate change is accelerating, researchers say the timing of the loss depends highly on how much fossil fuel we burn in the future. “The meltwater from these glaciers affects the streams that are very high in the alpine environment,” Florentine told CNN, pointing to a study which found “the presence or absence of glacier meltwater will be felt by water in the rivers that feed agricultural communities to the east of the park.” But when taken together with other glaciers globally under a warming climate, they are enough to cause significant sea level rise around the planet. Caitlyn Florentine, a research physical scientist at the US Geological Survey who studies US glaciers, noted the glaciers at Glacier National Park are already quite small. Melting glaciers are also a significant source of sea level rise. ZhQ9hfN84I- Glacier National Park June 16, 2022 Video description: A short clip zooms in on water cascading. Also, you will want to read about our vehicle reservation system before you arrive.
As Yellowstone closed down to visitors during its flooding disaster, officials at Glacier warned visitors their park was also experiencing dangerous water levels.ĭid flooding in divert your trip toward Glacier?īe aware that we are experiencing some flooding too. Much like the flooding at Yellowstone in June, the climate crisis is expected to trigger more flooding at Glacier. It also threatens the surrounding area with increased flooding. Loss of glacier ice is a huge threat for aquatic ecosystems within the park that rely on cold freshwater. In the past 50 years, some of the Montana park’s 26 glaciers have lost as much as 80% of their area. The Jackson Glacier Overlook, along the east side of Going-to-the-Sun Road is one of the easiest spots in the park to see a glacier. The average temperature in Yosemite may increase by up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the end of the century, which is several degrees higher than global temperatures are predicted to surge. Yosemite National Park has been forced to close several times in recent years because of extreme heat, deadly wildfires or dangerous air quality from fire smoke. reports /INl66OOcFC- The Lead CNN July 8, 2022Ĭlimate change has already touched one of the Sierra Nevada’s most valuable sites.
Yosemite is just one of many examples of threatened and disappearing national parks. That the parks’ climate change response “now involves ‘how do you evacuate everyone from a park’ is just a gut-punch that I don’t think we had fully taken in when we started the climate program,” she said.Īs more climate change-fueled events occur, CNN talked to Park Service officials and scientists to see how the climate crisis may alter the ecosystems and landscapes of some of the country’s most beloved national treasures. “Seeing what my former colleagues at Yellowstone are having to deal with now, it’s like … I’m worried for them.” “When I heard they were evacuating every visitor from Yellowstone, I was like, ‘Oh my god, evacuating every visitor was not a part of our climate change scenarios,’ ” Rockman told CNN. What happened at Yellowstone is also a classic example of the climate crisis converging with failed emergency disaster response, said Marcy Rockman, a former climate change adaptation coordinator for the Park Service. Yellowstone's North Entrance Road was washed out by the flooding. And unless the planet slashes fossil fuel emissions, scientists believe the climate crisis could drastically alter the landscapes, cultural sites and ecosystems in the parks, potentially making them inaccessible for humans and uninhabitable for other species. Scientists and officials say it signals a dramatic change unfolding at the nation’s most prized parks. Most recently, unprecedented flash flooding overwhelmed Yellowstone National Park and some of its surrounding areas. The consequences of the climate crisis – more wildfires, devastating drought, sea level rise, flooding, ecological disease – are plaguing the country’s national parks. “There’s a big shift happening right now, and it’s right in front of our eyes.” “It was really striking to see that every single tree seems to be getting hit by either climatic changes it could be dying from drought, or it could be insect attack or fungus, but they’re certainly weakened,” Dickman, a forest ecologist with the National Park Service, told CNN.
When Garrett Dickman drove through Yosemite National Park early this week, he passed through a diverse band of large trees – conifer, red fir, lodgepole pine – and noticed a grim pattern: many of the trees were either dead or dying.
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