Inside a glacier, a biologist finds an incredibly rare ice dragon In this swath of mountain range in the Washington Cascades east of Seattle, the climate crisis dealt the final blow to the Hinman Glacier, the largest in the region, according to Mauri Pelto, a glaciologist with Nichols College. David Shean, professor of civil and environmental engineering who focuses on glaciers at the University of Washington, said he and collaborators with the US Geological Survey have been working to quantify the changes, including direct measurements of ice volume and mass change over time to tell the full story. Since Pelto started noticing the Hinman glacier’s decline in 2005, he decided he wanted to document it beyond science and bring in artists, including his daughter Jill, who can capture the changing landscape through painting