Glacier Melt: Brad Washburn Photos vs. Current Conditions

[--M.]

Saw this in today's Boston Globe. Naturally, it headed the "Calendar" portion of the Health/Science section, along with an obligatory stunning Washburn photo in a side-by-side comparison with a current aerial photo. Matterhorn, this time.

Conclusion: less snow!

http://www.boston.com/ae/events/articles/2008/03/31/healthscience_calendar

FRI., APRIL 4

Glacier melt The Museum of Science will open a temporary photography exhibit that captures the effects of global climate change by pairing panoramic landscape shots from the 1930s by the late Bradford Washburn with the same shots taken over the last few years by journalist David Arnold. Go to mos.org.

http://mos.org/visitor_info/museum_news/press_releases&d=2582

I'm waiting for the definitive BW biopic. It'll be shot in IMAX, and they'll somehow reincarnate Katherine Hepburn to play his wife, Barbara. WAY too much material!

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Thanks for the heads up on this exhibit. What I found strange about the pair of Matterhorn pics in today's Boston Globe is that Brad's photo was shot in the winter and David's was shot in the summer, so it is not as easy as it should be to see how much nearby glaciers have retreated in the past 40 years.

 

[--M.]

How did you know the seasons in which the photos were taken?

I did notice the precision of attaining the exact same vantage point.

Washburn's aerial shots are so incredible, they beg the viewer to get out a map and start figuring stuff out, at which point one travels the same mental road he had, and he has by then shared something of value. What a guy.

 

[expat]

Thanks for the heads up on this exhibit. What I found strange about the pair of Matterhorn pics in today's Boston Globe is that Brad's photo was shot in the winter and David's was shot in the summer, so it is not as easy as it should be to see how much nearby glaciers have retreated in the past 40 years.

Here's the caption for the two photos on the press photos site for the Museum of Science:

Matterhorn Pair - Photographed on August 16, 1960 by Bradford Washburn and on August 18, 2005 by David Arnold.

so it looks like both photos were taken in the late summer.

 

[chinooktrail]

Sounds like a great reason to head down to Boston for a weekend!

 

[--M.]

Here's the caption for the two photos on the press photos site for the Museum of Science:

Matterhorn Pair - Photographed on August 16, 1960 by Bradford Washburn and on August 18, 2005 by David Arnold.

so it looks like both photos were taken in the late summer.

Way to be Captain Obvious. And I thought I was a careful reader. Pfaa!

Still, any time you get to spread good news like Brad Washburn, it's a smaht play.

If I weren't going to Mecca this weekend (I mean, Mount Washington), it'd be cool to arrange a visit to the MoS and also see the Alps movie at the IMAX theater.

But I'm going north instead.

Thanks for the sharp eyes.

 

[DougPaul]

There is more info and pics at the exhibit website: http://doublexposure.net/index.html

Doug

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Here's the caption for the two photos on the press photos site for the Museum of Science:

Matterhorn Pair - Photographed on August 16, 1960 by Bradford Washburn and on August 18, 2005 by David Arnold.

so it looks like both photos were taken in the late summer.

Yikes, thanks, as I missed those dates. But, must have been a freak August snowstorm in August 1960 that plastered all of that snow on the Matterhorn, as I have lots of pics from varous climbing books dating to that time frame that do not show that much snow cover. Still, no question that glaciers and snowfields (ex. the Eiger North Face) in the Alps have retreated dramatically over the past 50 years.

 

[forestgnome]

It would be cool to see a good artist rendition of the same area when it was subtropical, with the flora and fauna that exsisted there before it got frozen over in the last ice age.

happy spring