Correlations of Climate, Mass Balances, and Glacial Fluctuations at Mount Rainier, Washington, U.S.A., since 1850

Abstract

Despite the complex interrelationships between climate, mass balance, and glacier response, simplified mass-balance calculations can be correlated with observed glacial behavior. A monthly temperature and precipitation record, extending back to 1850, has been reconstructed for Longmire, Washington, on the southwest flank of Mount Rainier. Calculated mass-balance variations agree with observed glacier behavior since 1850 and with five sets of moraines constructed between 1850 and 1930 at Mount Rainier. Following periods of positive mass balances, trends toward more negative mass balances precede glacial recession with lag times of 1 to 5 yr. Analyses of the reconstructed temperature record and former ice frontal positions suggest that much of a 1°C temperature rise since the latest Neoglacial advances occurred prior to 1850. Correlations of the Mount Rainier mass-balance record with similar ones from Norway and Antarctica indicate generally synchronous climatic trends in the Northern Hemisphere and opposing short-term trends in the Southern Hemisphere since 1850.