No longer is climate change a distant drama of shrinking polar ice caps. As year-round ice fades from the saw-toothed summits of the Sierra Nevada, it's clear an unwelcome reality is at our doorstep: Global warming is local warming.
-
Miller Photo Co. 1913
A group of visitors in Merrill ice cave in Lava Beds National Monument in 1913, including a man in ice skates. Over the past decade, nine caves across the monument -- including Merrill -- have melted out, a strong sign of climate change, park officials say.
-
Randy Pench/rpench@sacbee.com
Seasonal geologist Sophia Kast stands on the wall of Merrill ice cave, which was once covered in ice through much of the 20th Century at Lava Beds National Monument June 3, 2008. The core temperature has risen enough to cause the ice to melt, and all that remains are the jumble of lava rocks.
-
G.K. Gilbert/
This photo shows Lyell Glacier on Aug. 7, 1903, and was taken by the geologist G.K. Gilbert.
-
Hassan Basagic/
This photo shows Lyell Glacier on Aug. 14, 2003, and was taken by Hassan Basagic, a graduate student at Portland State University. The glacier has shrunk in size by about 50 percent because of gradual warming in the Sierra.
- Consortium for Integrated Climate Research in Western Mountains
- Saving the Sierra
- Environment 360
- Western Regional Climate Center
- Western Mountain Initiative
- Our Changing Climate: Assessing the Risks to California
- Climate Change: A Challenge Looming for the Sierra Nevada
- Hotter and Drier: The West's Changed Climate
- Science Blogs: Environment
- The Grinnell Resurvey Project
Sierra in Peril (pdf files)
Part 1 (25MB)
Part 2 (32MB)
Part 3 (16MB)
Part 4 (42MB)
Part 5 (16MB)
State of Denial
The Pineros
Managing Forests
A Darker Shade of Green
