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Columbia Glacier is a glacier located in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness in the 
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of Washington
Washington commonly refers to:
* Washington (state), United States
* Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States
** A metonym for the federal government of the United States
** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
. It descends from to above sea level
Mean sea level (MSL, often shortened to sea level) is an average surface level of one or more among Earth's coastal bodies of water from which heights such as elevation may be measured. The global MSL is a type of vertical datuma standardise ...
. It is surrounded by Columbia Peak
Columbia Peak is a mountain peak in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness in the U.S. state of Washington. Columbia Peak rises to . Together with Monte Cristo Peak and Kyes Peak it forms a basin that contains Columbia Glacier and Blanca Lake.
Cl ...
, Monte Cristo Peak
Monte Cristo Peak is a mountain peak in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness in Washington state. Together with Columbia Peak and Kyes Peak it forms a basin that contains Columbia Glacier and Blanca Lake. The 1918 edition of ''The Mountaineer'' c ...
, and Kyes Peak and is a source of water for Blanca Lake
Blanca Lake is located in the Henry M. Jackson Wilderness Area in the Cascade Mountains of the U.S. state of Washington.
Blanca Lake sits in a basin surrounded by the peaks of Monte Cristo, Kyes, and Columbia. The lake is fed by the Columbi ...
and Troublesome Creek, a tributary of the North Fork Skykomish River.
The glacier retreated between 1979 and 2004. The retreat is due to recent reduced winter snowpack and more summer melting leading to negative mass balance
In physics, a mass balance, also called a material balance, is an application of conservation of mass to the analysis of physical systems. By accounting for material entering and leaving a system, mass flows can be identified which might have b ...
. The glacier is in disequilibrium with climate and will continue to thin and retreat.
See also
*List of glaciers in the United States
This is a list of glaciers existing in the United States, currently or in recent centuries. These glaciers are located in nine states, all in the Rocky Mountains or farther west. The southernmost named glacier among them is the Lilliput Glacier ...
References
Glaciers of the North Cascades Glaciers of Snohomish County, Washington Glaciers of Washington (state) {{Washington-glacier-stub