Grasshopper Glacier (Wyoming)
Encyclopedia
Grasshopper Glacier is located in Shoshone National Forest
, in the U.S. state
of Wyoming
on the east of the Continental Divide
in the Wind River Range
. Grasshopper Glacier is in the Fitzpatrick Wilderness
, and is part of the largest grouping of glaciers in the American Rocky Mountains
. The glacier flows north, and glacial runoff supplies water to Grasshopper Creek, flowing eventually into the Wind River
. The glacier shares a glacial margin with Klondike Glacier
, located to the south. The glacier is named for grasshoppers that have been found entombed in the ice.
Between September 6 to September 10, 2003, a glacial lake outburst flood
(GLOF) was recorded when the proglacial lake
at the head of the glacier burst through a glacial dam, and water from the lake carved a trench down the center of the glacier for over a half mile (.8 km). An estimated 650 million gallons of water were released in four days, raising the flow level of Dinwoody Creek from 200 ft3 per second to 900 ft3 per second, as recorded at a gauging station 17 miles (27.4 km) downstream. Debris from the flood was deposited more than 20 miles (32.2 km). The GLOF has been attributed to the rapid retreat of the glacier, which has been ongoing since the glacier was first accurately measured in the 1960s.
Shoshone National Forest
Shoshone National Forest is the first federally protected National Forest in the United States and covers nearly 2.5 million acres in the state of Wyoming. Originally a part of the Yellowstone Timberland Reserve, the forest was created by an act of Congress and signed into law by U.S....
, in the U.S. state
U.S. state
A U.S. state is any one of the 50 federated states of the United States of America that share sovereignty with the federal government. Because of this shared sovereignty, an American is a citizen both of the federal entity and of his or her state of domicile. Four states use the official title of...
of Wyoming
Wyoming
Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
on the east of the Continental Divide
Continental Divide
The Continental Divide of the Americas, or merely the Continental Gulf of Division or Great Divide, is the name given to the principal, and largely mountainous, hydrological divide of the Americas that separates the watersheds that drain into the Pacific Ocean from those river systems that drain...
in the Wind River Range
Wind River Range
The Wind River Range , is a mountain range of the Rocky Mountains in western Wyoming in the United States. The range runs roughly NW-SE for approximately 100 miles . The Continental Divide follows the crest of the range and includes Gannett Peak, which at 13,804 feet , is the highest peak...
. Grasshopper Glacier is in the Fitzpatrick Wilderness
Fitzpatrick Wilderness
The Fitzpatrick Wilderness is located in Shoshone National Forest in the U.S. state of Wyoming. The wilderness was originally known as the Glacier Primitive Area, but was redesignated a wilderness in 1976....
, and is part of the largest grouping of glaciers in the American Rocky Mountains
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
. The glacier flows north, and glacial runoff supplies water to Grasshopper Creek, flowing eventually into the Wind River
Wind River
Wind River may refer to:One of several rivers in the United States:*Wind River *Wind River , a designated National Wild and Scenic River*Wind River , called in Inuit Gui-guok-lok*Wind River...
. The glacier shares a glacial margin with Klondike Glacier
Klondike Glacier
Klondike Glacier is located in Shoshone National Forest, in the U.S. state of Wyoming on the east of the Continental Divide in the Wind River Range. Klondike Glacier is in the Fitzpatrick Wilderness, and is part of the largest grouping of glaciers in the American Rocky Mountains...
, located to the south. The glacier is named for grasshoppers that have been found entombed in the ice.
Between September 6 to September 10, 2003, a glacial lake outburst flood
Glacial lake outburst flood
A glacial lake outburst flood is a type of outburst flood that occurs when the dam containing a glacial lake fails. The dam can consist of glacier ice or a terminal moraine...
(GLOF) was recorded when the proglacial lake
Proglacial lake
In geology, a proglacial lake is a lake formed either by the damming action of a moraine or ice dam during the retreat of a melting glacier, or by meltwater trapped against an ice sheet due to isostatic depression of the crust around the ice...
at the head of the glacier burst through a glacial dam, and water from the lake carved a trench down the center of the glacier for over a half mile (.8 km). An estimated 650 million gallons of water were released in four days, raising the flow level of Dinwoody Creek from 200 ft3 per second to 900 ft3 per second, as recorded at a gauging station 17 miles (27.4 km) downstream. Debris from the flood was deposited more than 20 miles (32.2 km). The GLOF has been attributed to the rapid retreat of the glacier, which has been ongoing since the glacier was first accurately measured in the 1960s.