This photograph of Mt. Kazbek was taken from the International Space Station on August 13, 2002. The astronauts and cosmonauts took the photograph at the request of the Russian URAGAN Project, which is studying changes in the world’s glaciers in response to global climate change. Although scientists have predicted the possibility of large glacial collapses as the climate warms, no one predicted that tragedy would strike the mountain village of Karmadon, a little more than a month later.
Published Sep 25, 2002
Precipitation increases and a layer of debris on the terminus have helped maintain the longest mid-latitude glacier.
Published Jan 5, 2015
The looping medial moraines on Tajikistan’s Bivachny glacier offer a clue of periods when it surged rapidly forward.
Published Mar 17, 2015
In the early summer of 2011, the Medvezhiy Glacier in Tajikistan slid abruptly down its valley, creating a glacial lake.
Published Jul 30, 2011
Without enough fresh snow to replenish it, Alaska’s Yakutat Glacier is in trouble.
Published Nov 26, 2018
NIWA scientists stated that this glacier had retreated by 5 kilometers (about 3 miles) over the previous three decades. They also stated that New Zealand glaciers on the whole had lost 5.8 cubic kilometers (roughly 1.4 cubic miles) over the same time period.
Published Jan 27, 2008
Although they move slowly, glaciers do move, and this movement alters the ice as it passes over land. Likewise, a moving glacier can carry with it evidence of geologic events it has witnessed. The Bear Glacier in the Kenai Peninsula along the Gulf of Alaska bears multiple clues about its past.
Published Nov 8, 2006
Views from above show the extent of change across Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park.
Published Aug 13, 2020
For half a century, it has been the one known Alaskan glacier to withstand the effects of climate change—until now.
Published Nov 5, 2019
The moraines of Malaspina glacier display a dizzying pattern of curves, zigzags, and loops.
Published Oct 11, 2015
The amount of ice flowing from the Antarctic glacier has doubled in the span of three decades, and scientists think it could undergo even more dramatic changes in the near future.
Published Feb 6, 2020
Ferrar Glacier begins at Taylor Dome and flows toward the Ross Sea. North of it, an unusual feature known as “Blood Falls” stains ice bright red in one of Antarctica’s rare dry valleys.
Published Jun 23, 2013
The fast-changing glacier is threatening a popular hiking area in the western Alps.
Published Oct 2, 2019
Colorful bands of debris coat the surface of Zmutt Glacier and Gorner Glacier in the Swiss Alps. NASA scientist Kimberly Casey has developed new methods to map their composition with satellites.
Published Jul 11, 2013
Currently 30.2 km long and between 0.5 and 2.5 km wide, Gangotri glacier is one of the largest in the Himalaya. Gangotri has been receding since 1780, although studies show its retreat quickened after 1971.
Published Jun 23, 2004
The icefields of Patagonia, located at the southern end of South America, are the largest masses of ice in the temperate Southern Hemisphere (approximately 55,000 square kilometers).
Published May 8, 2006
