basagix field notes

Rephotography at Eliot Glacier over 120 years. Photo Station 999 is located on north moraine. Click an  image below to page through 1901, 2014, and 2021. 

The deep canyon below White River Glacier is the product of fire and ice. Volcanic eruptions, bulldozing glaciers, and lahars have created a raw and dynamic landscape on the southeast slope of Mount Hood. How fast is the landscape changing? Glacial moraines, often used to indicate past glacial extents, are heavily eroded or completely absent. Repeat historical photographs offer a view to how the canyon and the glacier has changed over the past 120 years. Harry F. Reid took two photographs from either side of the White River Glacier in 1901. These photos have the potential to assist with mapping the historical glacier perimeter but finding the location of the eastern photograph, frame 983, had vexed me during two previous visits. The photograph features the glacier terminus as viewed from the east with the top of the mountain obscured by clouds. In the foreground are two tree stumps, likely remnants of the ghost forest that formed by the Old Maid eruption in the late-1700s. The ty...

In my quest to rephotograph all of Reid’s 1901 glacier images around Mount Hood and Mount Adams, I hiked to the moraines of Ladd Glacier on the north side of Mount Hood. I knew the glacier no longer occupied the the frame, but I was curious nonetheless. Below is the repeat image. Ladd Glacier, Station 1002 The image on the left features a debris covered glacier terminus. Exposed ice can be seen just left of the water mark. Not surprising the glacier has retreated from the modern frame on the right... but how far? Panorama with Harry Reid's 1901 image registered in space. Red dot indicates glacier terminus in 1901. Panning up the glacier from the 1901 glacier terminus (red dot in panorama) a small break in the rock debris revealed exposed ice (yellow dot). Has the glacier only retreated 230 meters since 1901? If so it would be comparable to the slow rates of retreat on nearby Coe and Eliot glaciers. They too have a large quantity of thick rock debris covering the glaci...

A little over a century ago, the White River Glacier on Mount Hood filled the canyon. Repeat photographs of White River Glacier taken in 1902 and 2015 highlight some of the changes on Mount Hood. The most obvious change is the loss of ice volume in White River canyon and inside the crater. White River Glacier from Station West. Left image taken on August 19, 2013; Right image taken on September 14, 2015. This is the sixth known year this glacier was photographed from this station (c. 1902, 2001, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2015). The original photograph appeared in a report by Langille and others in 1903. The photographer is not credited and no date is provided. I began rephotographing this glacier in 2011. It took two years to perfect the location. Locating the exact location of the original photograph is important not only for making good photo comparisons, but also assists with mapping early glacier boundaries. Mapping early glacier boundaries on volcanoes is particularly diffi...