Abstract
The headwaters of the North Fork and Middle Fork Nooksack River are the glaciers of Mount Baker, the South Fork Nooksack River lacks glacier cover. The glaciers are a critical source of runoff for the North Fork contributing 30–40 % of the total runoff during late summer. In the last 30 years glacier retreat and climate change is altering the timing and magnitude of glacier runoff. For 31 years the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project has been examining glaciers at the headwaters of this system.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abatzoglou JT, Rupp D, Mote PW (2014) Seasonal climate variability and change in the pacific northwest of the United States. J Climate 27:2125–2142, doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/JCLI-D-13-00218.1
California Dept. of Water Resources. Interagency Ecological Studies Program Technical Report 26, 115–126
Casola J, Cuo L, Livneh B, Lettenmaier D, Stoelinga M, Mote P, Wallace J (2009) Assessing the impacts of global warming on snowpack in the Washington Cascades. J Climate 22:2758–2772
Dalton MM, Mote PW, Snover AK (2013) Climate change in the Northwest: implications for our landscapes, waters, and communities. Island Press, Washington, DC
Ebbesmeyer CC, Cayan DR, McLain FH, Nichols DH, Peterson DH, Redmond KT (1991) 1976 step in the pacific climate: forty environmental changes between 1968–1975 and 1976–1984. In: Betancourt JL, Tharp VL (eds) Proceedings on the 7th annual Pacific climate workshop, California Department of water resources. Interagency Ecological Studies Program Technical Report 26, 115–126.
Forel F (1895) Les variations périodiques des glaciers. Arch Sci Phys Nat XXXIV:209–229
Fountain A, Tangborn W (1985) The effect of glaciers on streamflow variations. Water Resour Res 21:579–586
Fountain A, Trabant D, Bruggman M, Ommaney C, Monroe D (1991) Glacier mass balance standards. EOS 72(46):511–514
Gershunov A, Barnett T, Cayan D (1999) North Pacific interdecadal oscillation seen as factor in ENSO-related north American climate anomalies. EOS 80:25–30
Grah O, Beaulieu J (2013) The effect of climate change on glacier ablation and baseflow support in the Nooksack River basin and implications on pacific salmonid species protection and recovery. Clim Change 120:657–670. doi:10.1007/s10584-013-0747-y
Haeberli W, Cihlar J, Barry R (2000) Glacier monitoring within the global climate observing system. Ann Glaciol 31:241–246
Harper JT (1993) Glacier terminus fluctuations on Mt. Baker, Washington, USA, 1940–1980, and climate variations. Arct Alp Res 25:332–340
Hock R (2005) Glacier melt: a review of processes and their modelling. Prog Phys Geogr 29:362–391
Hubley RC (1956) Glaciers of Washington’s Cascades and Olympic mountains: their present activity and its relation to local climatic trends. J Glaciol 2(19):669–674
IPCC: Climate Change (1995) Contributions of working group I to the second assessment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 241–265, 1996
Kresch D, Dincola K (1996) What causes floods in Washington State. USGS Fact Sheet, pp 228–296
Mantua NJ, Tohver I, Hamlet A (2010) Climate change impacts on streamflow extremes and summertime stream temperature and their possible consequences for freshwater salmon habitat in Washington State. Clim Change 102(1–2):187–223
Mantua NJ, Hare SR, Zhang Y, Wallace SM, Francis RC (1997) A Pacific interdecadal climate oscillation with impacts on salmon production. Bull Am Meteorol Soc 78:1069–1079
Mote P, Hamlet A, Salathe E (2008) Has spring snowpack decline in the Washington Cascades? Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 12:193–206
Oerlemans J (1994) Quantifying global warming from the retreat of glaciers. Science 264:243–245
Pelto MS (2006) The current disequilibrium of North Cascade glaciers. Hydrol Process 20:769–779. doi:10.1002/hyp.6132
Pelto MS (2008) Impact of climate change on North Cascade alpine glaciers and alpine runoff. Northwest Sci 82(1):65–75
Pelto MS, Brown C (2012) Mass balance loss of Mount Baker, Washington glaciers 1990–2010. Hydrol Process 26(17):2601–2607
Pelto MS, Hedlund C (2001) Terminus behavior and response time of North Cascade glaciers, Washington USA. J Glaciol 47:497–506
PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University, http://prism.oregonstate.edu, created 4 Feb 2004.
Rasmussen LA (2009) South Cascade Glacier mass balance, 1935–2006. Ann Glaciol 50:215–220
Rasmussen LA, Tangborn WV (1976) Hydrology of the North Cascade region, Washington 1. Runoff, precipitation, and storage characteristics. Water Resour Res 12(2):187–202
Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (2014) SalmonScape. http://apps.wdfw.wa.gov/salmonscape/map.html. Accessed Feb 2014
WGMS (2008) Global glacier changes: facts and figs. In: Zemp M, Roer I, Kääb A, Hoelzle M, Paul F, Haeberli W (eds). UNEP, World Glacier Monitoring Service, Zurich
WGMS (2011) Glacier mass balance bulletin no. 11. In: Zemp M, Nussbaumer SU, GärtnerRoer I, Hoelzle M, Paul F, Haeberli W (eds) (2008–2009). ICSU(WDS)/IUGG(IACS)/UNEP/UNESCO/WMO, WGMS, Zurich
Whatcom Farm Friends (2013) Whatcom Farm facts. http://www.wcfarmfriends.com/#!farm-facts/citg. Accessed Feb 2015
Wolter K, Timlin M (1998) Measuring the strength of ENSO how does 1997/98 rank? Weather 53:315–324
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Pelto, M. (2015). Introduction to Mount Baker and the Nooksack River Watershed. In: Climate Driven Retreat of Mount Baker Glaciers and Changing Water Resources. SpringerBriefs in Climate Studies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22605-7_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-22605-7_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-22604-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-22605-7
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)