"Disappearing Act" a new painting ~ and a new video ~ for the Glaciers Gone Collection

The interesting thing about this video is it's the first one I've made for an individual painting. Very simple but I think it adds something to the idea. "Disappearing Act" is the 39th painting in the collection.

This painting is presently available for purchase.

Amalia Glacier

This is the 38th painting in the collection.

Meltdown

Meltdown, the 28th painting in Tatiana Iliina's collection of abstract glacier paintings. All the paintings with the exception of one or two of the most recent currently reside in private collections around the world.

Black Rapids Glacier

The Black Rapids Glacier abstract glacier painting by Tatiana Iliina was released yesterday. This is the 36th painting in the collection and, at 16" x 16", is the first one done in a smaller size.

Black Rapids Glacier, located in Alaska, U.S.A., is famous for being a glacier that is subject to "surging". That is, it can move very quickly.

In 1937, the Black Rapids Glacier was documented as moving about 220 feet per day, or a mile a month for a few months.

The glacier has been in decline for several years, however it is thought possible that another surge could occur.

Puncak Jaya, Indonesia - Witnessing the Last Years of an Icecap

Puncak Jaya, located in Papua Province in Indonesia, is the tallest peak between the Himalayas and the Andes.

At 4,885 m., Puncak Jaya is the 9th "most prominent" peak in the entire world, based on surrounding terrain. Having a year-round snowcapped peak also made it one of the curiosities of the tropical world.

The Puncak Jaya Icecap is the latest subject in Tatiana Iliina's collection of abstract glacier paintings. This is also only the second glacier painting to be done in the 48 x 48 size.

The original discoverer of the ice cap, the Dutch explorer Jan Carstensz, was ridiculed in Europe for having claimed to have seen snow in the tropics. But the icecap on Puncak Jaya has existed for centuries.

Now, if current melting trends continue, it will be gone in five years. In fact, there is a race against time going on right now on Puncak Jaya as scientists hope to salvage irreplaceable data contained in the ice..

This summer, an expedition led by glaciologist Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University and oceanographer Dwi Susanto of Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, completed the complex job of bringing core samples from the disappearing glaciers back to the U.S. for further study.

These core samples will reveal invaluable information concerning the Earth's atmosphere and other data going back hundreds or thousands of years.


The glaciologists' helicopter picking up core samples near the peak of  Puncak Jaya.

Milk Lake Glacier - 30th Abstract Glacier Painting by Tatiana Iliina

Artist Documents the Disappearance of Disappearance 

Canadian artist Tatiana Iliina has created a growing collection of paintings that celebrate the fleeting beauty of an ecosystem in rapid transition.

From the Himalayas to the Rockies, from the Alps to the Andes, most glaciers around the world are receding every year.

If the glaciers themselves have become transitory objects, the period of receding for a glacier is as ephemeral as it gets.  In the tens of thousands of years of history any one glaciers may only recede across a certain stretch of ground only once. As the glacier retreats, a piece of the Earth that was permanently frozen in time sees the light for the first time in eons.

When the snow melts the following year, the land has only been covered for a few months. The situation is very limited in scope. There are only so many glaciers and each season of melt can only be seen once. Although there are still glaciers on the planet that should last for hundreds, if not thousands of years, the total number and volume of the glaciers is declining quickly. The receding ancient glacier will ultimately become a rare and incredible event.

Canadian Arctic and Rocky Mountain glaciers showing net mass balance decline

A study, released today by Statistics Canada, covering three prominent Arctic and Rocky Mountain glaciers, shows that the glaciers in both regions are shrinking - although those in Rockies are shrinking faster. (via BigCityLib). My question, looking at these charts, is what percentage of the glacier's mass do these numbers represent.

Cumulative Net mass balance, Western Cordillera glaciers
(click the graph to get a better look)

Cumulative Net mass balance, High Arctic glaciers

According to the study, the glacier ice mass balance is "thought to provide one of the clearest signals found in nature to monitor ongoing trends in climate."