basagix field notes

I journeyed to the Dry Valleys during the month of November to conduct glacier surveys and maintain the network of LTER weather stations. It had been two years since my last visit and I had anticipated that things would be very different, but it turned out that I was only partially right. Traveling though Christchurch was very different. Even though I was prepared for it, the structural damage caused by the earthquake was alarming. The two B&Bs that I stayed in years past were vacant lots and access to much of downtown is restricted. The front of the hotel I stayed in was an empty shell under steady construction. While the people I spoke with all said that folks rallied together, you could tell the disaster had taken a toll. Many folks have decided not to rebuild. I awoke my first night shaking in bed, a minor 3.something aftershock, another reminder that things were still unsettled. McMurdo Station from Ob Hill Upon arriving in McMurdo a familiar feeling came over me...

I recently completed fieldwork for a project capturing glacier repeat photographs on the volcanoes in the Northwest. The fieldwork was challenging but the extended dry conditions in September were fantastic - only two days of being clouded or rained out. In all, I documented over 50 photo stations between Mount Shasta to Mount Baker. Most of these were existing photo stations, though I added some new stations based on historical photographs. Additional sites were documented in the Wallowas of Oregon and in the Front Range of Colorado. These repeat photographs will be added to the Glacier Repeat Photograph Database * . The change in glacier area and volume are quite evident in the photographs. The Emmons Glacier on Mount Rainier is the largest glacier in the lower 48 states. In the comparison below, you can see the dirty glacier in the foreground of the 1938 photograph, with water flowing from an ice cave at the glacier terminus. In 2012, the glacier has receded and vegetation has ...

I visited the Arapaho Glacier in Colorado toward the end of August to document the site for the Glacier Rephoto Database project. The glacier is located below North and South Arapaho Peaks in the Front Range. The glacier contributes to the City of Boulder’s drinking water supply and is in a protected area. A trail, appropriately called Glacier View, provides a wonderful side view of the glacier. The  convenient access enabled the glacier to be photographed over 20 times since 1898. The Arapaho Glacier has reportedly lost 52% of it’s surface area over the 20th century (Haugen et al., 2010). Below is the photo comparison of the glacier in 1898 (Brackett ) and 2012 (Basagic). Arapaho Glacier, Colorado (left) R.Y. Brackett, August 24, 1898 (right) H. Basagic, August 27, 2012 In 1898 the glacier is in contact with the moraine. A small lake now resides where the glacier once occupied . There is still evidence of movement, illustrated by minor crevasses, and therefore the ice...

It has been 10 months since the breach of Condit Dam that drained Northwestern Lake and allowed the White Salmon River to flow freely from Mount Adams to the Columbia River. I revisited the former lake side to observe how the landscape has changed since my last visit in January. The most obvious change was the recontouring of the land which removed the hard edges created by erosion. Also visible in the images is pioneer vegetation growing on the opposite side of the river. Some tall trees have disappeared from the background. Not visible in the repeat images is the news that steelhead fish have returned to territory that had been blocked by the dam since 1913. The remains of Condit Dam are expected to be completely removed by the end of August 2012.

A first look at the changing landscape at Northwestern Lake following the breaching of Condit Dam on the White Salmon River in Washington. I first photographed Northwestern Lake in the summer of 2011. The nearly 100-year old dam was breached on October 26, 2011, allowing the White Salmon River to flow unobstructed from the glaciers of Mount Adams to the Columbia River. I revisited the lake in January 2012 before any major winter storm events to capture the changes. This is the first in a series of repeat photographs ( click to enlarge ).