Columbia Glacier

by Ron on September 26, 2006

Columbia Glacier

Columbia Glacier, Prince William Sound, Alaska.

This is an incredibly dynamic part of the world.  You are looking at the 300 foot high face of the Columbia Glacier.  What you don’t see is the additional 1,500 feet of face that is underwater.  When a piece of ice breaks off far below the surface it can rise rapidly and break the surface with great force with no warning.  I have been told these huge pieces of ice can come flying up at all kinds of angles. 

This is the last tidewater glacier in Alaska to make the rapid retreat off it’s moraine from the last ice age.  It will continue to retreat another 18 miles or so in the next few years uncovering what will soon be one of the deepest parts of Prince William Sound.

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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }

Doris September 26, 2006 at 5:01 pm

It looks like someone came out and groomed the ice and snow :-)
What an neat place!

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