An ancient massive Hinman Glacier seen in 1988 with four separate ice masses. Nestled between the snowy ranges of Mount Rainier and Glacier Peak, a significant glacier in Washington state has disappeared after being full of ice and snowpack for millennia, according to a researcher who has tracked the glacier for years.
This decline in summer streamflow from the glaciers and warming freshwater reduces not only the salmons’ quality of life but also that of people who rely on the river, experts say. Since the 1950s, the primary glaciers that feed the Skykomish River basin have lost around 55% of their surface area. And then, the Columbia Glacier declined in area by 25%, Foss by 70%, Lynch by 40% and Hinman by 95%.
Many glaciers were formed during the last Ice Age. Researchers who have tracked it for years found strong evidence that Hinman was older than the Mount Mazama eruption, which created Oregon’s Crater Lake, 7,000 years ago.