Why is alaskan ice blue

Snow is white because it is full of air bubbles and light scatters when it hits the surface. But as more snow accumulates through years and packs down, the air bubbles compress and light can pass through the ice more easily.

The ice absorbs red long wavelengths of white light while reflecting blue short wavelengths, creating the turquoise hues seen on glaciers. A glacier forms as snow remains in the same area year-round. As more layers of snow accumulate, it has to "recrystallize. After two winters, snow reaches a state, firn, between snow and glacier ice. In most cases, this process takes over one hundred years.

The warming climate has dramatically reduced the size of 39 glaciers in Montana since , some by as much as 85 percent, according to data released by the U. Geological Survey and Portland State University. Frozen bodies of ice cover nearly 10 percent of the state of Alaska, but the influence of glaciers on the environment, tourism, fisheries, hydropower, and other important Alaska resources is rarely discussed.

The persistence of an already rare aquatic insect, the western glacier stonefly, is being imperiled by the loss of glaciers and increased stream temperatures due to climate warming in mountain ecosystems, according to a new study released in Freshwater Science.

Photograph of the Juneau icefields of southeastern Alaska that contain more than glaciers which extend over 1, square miles 3, square km.

The iceberg has just broken free from under the water and shot to the surface, spinning towards the ice face. The ice cliff here is about 70 m Icebergs are calved as stress fractures in the glacier merge, eventually resulting in a piece of ice cracking off and falling into.

Note the icebergs in the ship's wake in the lower right side of the photograph. Skip to main content. Search Search. Climate and Land Use Change. Apply Filter. Which mountain in the conterminous U. Mount Rainier, Washington, at 14, feet 4, meters , the highest peak in the Cascade Range, is a dormant volcano whose glacier ice cover exceeds that of any other mountain in the conterminous United States.

Mount Rainier has approximately 26 glaciers. It contains more than five times the glacier area of all the other Cascade volcanoes How old is glacier ice? The age of the oldest glacier ice in Antarctica may approach 1,, years old The age of the oldest glacier ice in Greenland is more than , years old The age of the oldest Alaskan glacier ice ever recovered from a basin between Mt.

Bona and Mt. Churchill is about 30, years old. Glacier flow moves newly formed ice through the entire Are today's glaciers leftovers from the Pleistocene ice age? Yes and no. Glacier ice is highly pressurized. Bubbles in glacier ice get squeezed and pushed around. Sometimes you can see round bubbles that have been squeezed into long rods or flat plains. Coarse-bubbly ice looks whiter than most other ice because it is filled with small bubbles. This kind is usually found near ablation areas of a glacier.

Coarse-clear ice is free of bubbles and is the bluest ice of all. This kind is usually found near the margins and terminus of a glacier. Look at ice cubes formed in your freezer. These ice cubes first froze on their outsides and trapped air bubbles toward the center.

As a result, the exterior is bubble-free while the interior has bubbles. Bubbles between the outside and the inside of the cube are probably longer and more extended. Can you see the differences? Distributed Active Archive Center.

Facebook Twitter. Certificate of Excellence , , , , , The Deep Blues A group of climbers explores the remote area of a water filled moulin farther back on the glacier. A group of guide's explores an ice cave. Photo Credit: David Crane An ice climber rappels into a moulin on the glacier. Photo Credit: David Crane A look into an ice cave and the deep blues they create.

Email this page to a friend. Helicopter Glacier Hike Experience the Matanuska Glacier and surrounding peaks and valleys from the air. Then land and explore the glacier with a… Experience the Matanuska Glacier and surrounding peaks and valleys from the air. Learn More ». Click here to Learn More Learn More. Helicopter Scenic Tour Experience the Matanuska Glacier and surrounding peaks and valleys from the air. Blue pools, big crevasses and an eagle eye… Experience the Matanuska Glacier and surrounding peaks and valleys from the air.

Ultimate Helicopter Glacier Tour Helicopter. Phone Click here to call Envelope Click here to email info micaguides.