Previously, we announced a volunteer research project in which we hope to record images of North American glaciers on the precise same dates every year. This research idea is something of a response to official government imagery showing glaciers such as the Grinnell Glacier in Glacier National Park appearing to melt rapidly in recent years. Those who call for more socialism to save humanity from manmade global warming often point to such imagery to bolster their “settled science” claims.
Official government websites provide suggestive images in which photos of glaciers taken decades ago are compared to photos of the same glaciers taken in recent hot summers. The government appears to be using trickery, in that no specific dates of the year are provided.
As every Montanan knows, glaciers and snowfields cover most of the northern Rockies throughout the winters and these glaciers and snowfields steadily melt throughout the summers. By showing a photo of a dwindling glacier taken on an extremely hot August day and comparing it to photos taken decades ago in the Spring, one can easily manipulate the emotions of the unsophisticated.
We do not deny that the glaciers in Glacier National Park have melted substantially over the past century.
We initially proposed July 24th—traditionally the hottest average date of most summers—as our annual date for photographing the glaciers of Glacier National Park. Upon reflection, however, we believe the project would be better conducted by taking photos of the glaciers ON THE DATE OF AVERAGE FIRST FREEZE in the region. This is because glaciers generally continue to melt throughout the late summers, long after the hottest days of summers.
According to the meteorologists at the Weather Underground, “In West Glacier, Montana, the average date for the first temperature below 32 degrees is Sept. 13.” (Note that it is likely that glaciers generally continue melting even after the first freeze of Autumn, but we have chosen September 13 for the sake of simplicity.) Remember that the point of this project is simply to record imagery on the same day of the year, year-after-year.
