Malaspina Glacier, Yakutat Bay Alaska Seascapes

by Connie Fox

Title

Malaspina Glacier, Yakutat Bay Alaska Seascapes

Artist

Connie Fox

Medium

Photograph - Outdoor Color Photo

Description

After comparing this image with the travel agenda provided by the captain of our ship and a satellite image, I have identified this masterpiece as the Malaspina Glacier in southeastern Alaska. This is the largest piedmont glacier in the world.

Piedmont glaciers differ from tidewater glaciers in that none of their area actually touches the water, as tidewater glaciers do. They can, however, be huge, as is this one. You will find other glaciers in my Alaska Gallery that have what resembles the apron of a driveway that comes to the edge of the water. Sometimes, however, the faces of tidewater glaciers are more like walls, both above and below the surface of the water. In the case of the Hubbard Glacier, they can even break off from below the surface because the glacier is advancing, or getting larger. Such is not the case, though, with this glacier.

Situated at the head of the Alaska Panhandle, the Malaspina Glacier is about 40 miles (65 km) wide and 28 miles (45 km) long, with an area of about 1500 square miles (3900 km). That makes it larger than the state of Rhode Island. Lovers of geology, nature, and topography, plus the wondrous beauties of Alaska: This one is for you.

The Malaspina is up to 600 metres (2,000 ft) thick in places, with the elevation of its bottom being estimated to be as much as 300 metres (980 ft) below sea level. Radar data and aerial photographs dating back to 1972 provide evidence that the Malaspina-Seward glacier system lost about 20 m (66 ft) of its thickness between 1980 and 2000. Because the glacier is so large, that amount of shrinkage was sufficient to contribute 1/2 of one percent of the rise in the global sea level. Though the glacier is melting, the Malaspina is still larger than the state of Rhode Island. Note, too, that not all glaciers in this area are melting. Some, such as the Hubbard Glacier, are advancing--and dangerously so.

Nearly all of the Malaspina Glacier is encompassed by the southeast lobe of the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. In October 1969, the glacier became a National Natural Landmark. Which mountain range a glacier derives from determines whether it is advancing or receding. Glaciers on opposite sides of Glacier Bay are also opposite in this respect: On one side they are receding; on the other side of the bay they are advancing.

Copyright 2015 Connie Steitz Fox
All Rights Reserved
Canon A630

FEATURED December 2015 on the homepage of Premium FAA Artists. Featured on the homepages of Just Perfect and Vacations, October 2019; Compact Digital Camera Photographers, April 2023; The Meandering Photographer and Serenity Inspiring Photography, September 2023.

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October 7th, 2015

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