Glacier Photography

Global climate change is having profound impacts on mountain environments. In order to understand how a changing climate will affect alpine ecosystems and water resources in the future, it is critical to document their current status. The goal of this project is to implement a consistent system for recording the condition of glaciers and alpine ecosystems in North and South America. Through a unique combination of repeat photography and crowd-sourced citizen science, we aim to engage alpine enthusiasts in documenting changes in the Sierra Nevada and Andes mountain ranges, provide high resolution data to climate scientists, and build public awareness through compelling images and media.

Anyone can participate and contribute to this project by visiting these locations following GPS coordinates, lining up the historic photo, taking a photograph, and sending it to us. Most of these locations area easily accessible and often hundreds of people pass right by these photopoints every year, but many cases these photos have only been repeated once or twice. If you are feeling more adventurous, there are hundreds more photo locations we have not identified.

The Alpine of the Americas Project is working closely with the Glaciers of the American West project to add to their database of glaciers from the Sierra Nevada. In the Andes they are working with researchers at a government research agency in Mendoza.  They have been tasked with completing an inventory of all glaciers in the Argentine Andes in the next four years; a massive project in which repeat photography is a very useful tool. As the Alpine of the Americas Project cultivates more contacts with climate researchers they hope to expand to other mountain ranges.