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Logo bar of the Alaska Public Lands Information Center which are located in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Tok and Ketchikan
calm waters reflect a sea side glacier in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
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Glacial Fun Facts
 
Two visitors reading a wayside display while viewing Exit Glacier
NPS/Kent Miller

These are some fun facts about Glaciers!

  • When ice breaks off from the face of a glacier, it is called calving. This is how Icebergs are formed!
  • About three-fourths of all fresh water in Alaska is stored as glacial ice. This is several times more than all the water stored in the state's lakes, ponds, rivers, and reservoirs.
  • The longest glacier in Alaska is the Bering Glacier which is more than 100 miles long.
  • The 76 mile-long Hubbard Glacier is the longest tidewater glacier in North America.
  • The greatest concentration of calving tidewater glaciers occurs in Prince William Sound, with 20 active tidewater glaciers. The largest is Columbia Glacier.
  • A crevasse is an open crack on the surface of a glacier, and can be more than 30 meters deep.
  • Glaciers can deposit rocks and other debris into large mounds known as moraines.
  • The rocks in a glacier can be ground up into a fine "rock flour," which is then deposited by glacial ice. Over 1500 feet of this stilt has been deposited in Turnagain Arm, creating dangerous mudflats.


Digital animation of Bear Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park
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QuickTime Player is required to view this animation. Click HERE for the free download. 

This animation uses satellite imagery and digital elevation information to create a 3-dimensional depiction of the Bear Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park. Created with Geographic Information Systems (GIS) animation tools, this video simulates what a person would see if they flew over Bear Glacier in an aircraft.
 
Mount St Elias' south face Did You Know?
Mount Saint Elias in Wrangell-St Elias National Park & Preserve is located only 10 miles from the head of Icy Bay and stands at 18,008 feet. Due to the proximity to ocean waters, it has the highest coastal vertical relief of any mountain in the world.