Cloud Peak Glacier

Cloud Peak Glacier
Type	Mountain glacier
Location	Johnson County, Wyoming, USA (Bighorn Mountains)
Coordinates	44°22′56″N 107°10′26″W / 44.38222°N 107.17389°W / 44.38222; -107.17389Coordinates: 44°22′56″N 107°10′26″W / 44.38222°N 107.17389°W / 44.38222; -107.17389[1]
Terminus	Scree, Proglacial lake
Status	Retreating

Cloud Peak Glacier is located in the Bighorn Mountains in the northcentral section of the U.S. state of Wyoming.^[2] Centered within the Cloud Peak Wilderness of Bighorn National Forest, Cloud Peak Glacier is the only active glacier in the Bighorn Mountains.^[3] The glacier is in a deep cirque immediately northeast of Cloud Peak, the highest peak in the Bighorn Mountains.

Cloud Peak Glacier is retreating rapidly and is expected to disappear entirely sometime between the years 2020 and 2034. Photographs taken in 1905 and again in 2005 demonstrated an obvious reduction in the area the glacier, and more ominously, a huge loss of thickness. Between 1905 and 2005, the glacier has been reduced in size from an estimated 506,000,000 cubic feet (14,300,000 m³) to 78,000,000 cubic feet (2,200,000 m³).^[3]

See also

• Retreat of glaciers since 1850
• List of glaciers in the United States

Cited references

1. ^ "Cloud Peak". Geographic Names Information System, U.S. Geological Survey. http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:1586783. Retrieved 2010-09-04. 
2. ^ "USGS Cloud Peak (WY) Topo Map Quad" (Map). TopoQuest. http://www.topoquest.com/map.asp?z=13&n=4916931&e=327122&s=50&size=l&datum=nad83&layer=DRG25. Retrieved 2008-07-04. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Rahn, Perry H.; Charles Michael Ray, Michael W. Rahn (March/April 2006). "The Last Glacier in the Bighorns". The Professional Geologist (American Institute of Professional Geologists) 43 (2): 43–46.