A Grand Glacier

Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve occupies 5000 sq miles in the panhandle of Alaska near Juneau. I also is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site that extends into Canada. As per the name, the park is famous for the concentration of glaciers and the associated spectacular vistas. We were particularly impressed by the Grand Pacific Glacier that winds over 25 miles from mountains in the lower Yukon into British Columbia and across the border into Alaska. The captain of our cruise ship skillfully approached and parked less than 100 yards off its face in Tarr Inlet. As per a photo, a smaller excursion boat was able to get closer. The weather was so nice on the day we were there that the captain came out on the bridge walk with his camera to take photos of the glacier. We experienced the sight and sound of calving, but unfortunately I was not fast enough to get in-process photos.

In 2007 when these photos were taken, the glacier’s ice was estimated to be 900 ft thick behind the terminus. The face itself was about 2 miles wide, standing 150 ft above the water. The blue ice is highly compressed and the dark black ice is laden with debris scoured up during movement of the glacier to the sea. Ice thinning within the glacier and recession at the face have been measured over the last three decades, and found to be accelerating, due to human impact on the earth – global atmospheric change.