Glacier Bay: Facts and Thoughts

Glacier Bay: Facts and Thoughts

Weather Prediction

Mount Fairweather, 15300 Feet or 4590 Meters High

When Harry F Reid was tenting in Geikie Inlet in 1892, he wrote in his journal, "We have concluded that there are many infallible signs of rain in this region. If the sun shines, if the stars appear, if there are clouds or if there are none; these are all sure indications. If the barometer falls, it will rain; if the barometer rises, it will rain; if the barometer remains steady, it will continue to rain." I think he was right and it applies to most of Alaska.

The white tongue is where the glacier was in
Captain Cook's time.  The blue shallows are what
is left of the glacier's moraine.

History

In 1680, there was a flood plain where the fjords are today and this area Tlingit villages. As the glacier grew, the Tlingits were forced to move their villages south. By 1750, in the middle of The Little Ice Age, a long tongue of glacier spread from Glacier Bay into Icy Strait. By 1795, Capt George Vancouver described Glacier Bay; there was still a glacier but it had receded 5 miles, leaving a deep bay surrounded by a high shelf where the moraine had been. By 1879, when John Muir visited Glacier Bay, the glaciers had melted back another 40 miles. Today, one has to travel 65 miles up the bay to find a glacier that reaches salt water.

Today

  

Some of the glaciers are now receding, some are stable, and some are advancing. All glaciers have a flow rate downhill. Glaciers increase as they receive more snow and they shrink as they melt or calve. Johns Hopkins it is advancing; it has a has a flow rate of 4000 ft / yr; it is 250 feet above water and 200 feet below. Reid is slowly receding; it has a flow rate of 800 ft / yr; it is up to 130 feet above water and 10 feet below. Margerie is stable; it has a flow rate is 2000 ft / yr; it is 250 feet above water and up to 100 feet below.