The ICE PROJECT consists of 5 photographs currently, in which 3 of them are Diptychs, before and after photographs. It is to represent a true visual reference of the changing landscape in the past 100 years in our treasured National Parks, the Glacier National Park in Montana, and Chugach National Forest in Alaska.  

 

ICE #1 – Grinnell Glacier in Montana has seen excessive melting glaciers in the past decade. The Glaciers are melting so fast that is one of the most visibly effected by climate change occurring in a US Park. Soon enough Glacier Park, hence the name, will have no more glaciers because warming temperatures. In this image on the right taken in 2017 at Iceberg Lake in Grinnell Glacier, you can see the receding icebergs and the receding mouth of the glacier which now is relatively a lake. The image on the left, taken in 1910 by John Morton, in collaboration with University of Montana image archives, shows the peak of Grinnell looking down at the mouth of the glacier. It’s apparent in the before and after comparison, the contrast of melting glaciers. 

 

ICE #2 – Portage Glacier in Alaska’s Chugach National Forest is another glacier that has seen rapidly changing effects of Climate change in the past 100 years. The image on the left taken in 1939 from the archives of the United States Geological Survey shows the terminus or mouth of the glacier as it appeared during this time. On the right exhibits the front of the glacier in 2017. Since 1939 the terminus and the mouth of the glacier has receded more than 3 miles from where it used to be in 1939. 

 

ICE #3 – Portage Glacier, a close-up image, shows the glacier run off from the hanging glacier. As this is also a cause by climate change when there is excessive and rapid melting, it is also a normal process where the glacier water helps habitation during the summer months. In 2019, Alaska recorded the hottest summer on record, which resulted in excessive melting in the region. 

 

ICE #4 – Another close-up view of Portage Glacier and glacier runoff from the receding hanging glacier. 

 

ICE #5- Portage Glacier in 1958 on the left from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration shows the glacier and Portage Lake filled with icebergs and ice. It was then when it had already started retreating from the 1930s. Portage Glacier once ended on land, on the other side of what it is now Portage Lake.