As a climate scientist with over 25 years of experience, Anders Carlson understands the significant loss Oregon’s glaciers are facing. In 2020, this awareness led him to found the Oregon Glaciers Institute (OGI), a nonprofit institute run by a core group of volunteers, to research glacial health and inform the Oregon public about the far-reaching impacts of glacial loss in the state. In November 2024, OGI published its four-year impact report.

The report underscores the danger facing Oregon’s glaciers. In 2021, OGI completed a field-based count of glaciers and determined that the state had 60 individual “flowing ice bodies” as recently as the 1970s. Now, only 27 remain.

“We’re able to see [the glaciers] change in 5 years,” Carlson said in a recent interview with GlacierHub. “It is a true visual indicator of climate change.” 

Moreover, the impact report highlights the organization’s range of research activities. It runs an annual glacier health program assessing the end-of-summer snow coverage on a number of glaciers. OGI has also established partnerships with physicists from the University of Oregon who are developing new parameters for measuring the reflectivity of ice and snow from satellites. 

The report also highlights an article published last September by OGI researchers in The Cryosphere, detailing their discovery of the rapid retreat of Mount Hood’s glaciers. By examining photographs taken of the glaciers by Portland Mazamas mountaineer Steve Boyer in 2003 and comparing them to more recent field observations and GPS data, OGI has been able to document the extent of glacial retreat. The study found that Mount Hood’s seven largest glaciers have lost 25% of their area in the last 23 years, with two additional glaciers ceasing to flow entirely. A defining characteristic of a glacier is its flow; without it, the ice is essentially “dead.”

“We are documenting what [glaciers] were here and what remains,” Carlson said. Further ongoing collaborations with geochronologists—scientists who study the age of rocks, fossils and sediments—from Imperial College London are helping to reconstruct the prehistory of Oregon’s glaciers by using cosmogenic isotopic surface exposure dating methods, a technique that dates the rock’s surface exposure to cosmic rays over time.   

“The whole goal is to build enough empirical observation points where we can confidently predict the future viability of different glaciers,” Carlson said. 

A vital part of OGI’s work includes experiential education, which bridges the public’s general awareness of Oregon’s glacial loss into on-the-ground relationship-building between people and ice. 

“Glacial-based education is a really powerful way to engage with people on multiple levels, through their senses, their emotions and their intellect,” said Margie Turrin, director of educational field programs at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. She added that field-based experiences are the best way to teach about the environment around us, as classroom instruction alone is not as effective at motivating students at any age. 

OGI’s educational programs also value direct and practical learning opportunities. The institute has organized numerous field trips to glaciers for different age groups, from teens in middle school to students in community college. In addition to offering field trips, OGI has hosted several interns from universities across the United States to practice teaching in the field, a unique experience for both the instructor and the students.

“There are many people who will never have the opportunity to visit a glacier. This is true now and will be more true as the environment continues to warm,” said Turrin. “The more we all work to connect people with the ice, the better our ability to improve climate literacy and engagement.”

The report showcases how OGI’s education efforts reach beyond students and resonate with the general public. OGI has conducted over 25 presentations about glacial awareness to community groups like mountaineering clubs and public libraries across Oregon. It is also developing a smartphone app that will enable users to explore glacier reconstructions and participate in citizen science initiatives by contributing their own photographs of glaciers to a shared community database. 

“We are focused on trying to relate human-lived experience to the glacier’s change… Here, you can see these changes and it’s not an abstract thing or just a number,” explained Anders. He hopes the photos, all recent, from the app will serve as a powerful reference point for people to understand the changes that have occurred. 

Whether through scientific research and glacial monitoring or engaging field trips and an app, OGI’s four-year impact report shows its dedication to demonstrating the loss of a key feature of Oregon’s natural beauty. The OGI’s goal is to not only encourage awe for Oregon’s glaciers but also to educate and empower individuals to advocate for glacier preservation.