SEFS alumna and glacier research technician Kendall Becker is studying insulated rock glaciers in Utah’s Wasatch Range offering climate hope amidst wide-spread ice decline in the Western U.S.
NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce recently covered rock glacier research out of Utah’s Wasatch Range for All Things Considered. SEFS alumna Kendall Becker, a research technician, and mountain ecologist Scott Hotaling are on a mission to collect glacial ice samples from natural cravases on a rock glacier upslope of White Pine Lake.
There are about 10,000 rock glaciers in the western United States––many of which have been overlooked by officials who manage water resources. These rock glaciers, compared to “bare” glaciers and snowfields, are insulated by rocks and rubble making them less susceptible to the effects of climate change. Hotaling says that rock glaciers store a massive amount of water and a recent study in the Teton mountain range revealed that regular surface glaciers were losing ice at a rate nearly seven times faster than nearby rock glaciers.
Collecting samples from rock glaciers is a challenge. The debris and rubble that shield them from a warming planet is the same debris that makes collecting ice samples difficult. Analyzing the age of the ice and its layers could help researchers like Becker and Hotaling determine how often rock glaciers get replenished.
Rock glaciers are an important part of the ecosystem, providing a resource for fish and mountain inhabitants like pikas. Humans may also come to rely on rock glaciers for drinking water as our freshwater resources become depleted.