Muir glacier
| Muir glacier | ||
|---|---|---|
 Muir Glacier (right) and Morse Glacier in 1994 |
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| location | Alaska ( USA ) | |
| Mountains | Alsek Ranges ( Elias chain ) | |
| Type | Valley glacier | |
| length | 19 km | |
| Exposure | south | |
| Altitude range | 1400 m - 0 m | |
| width | ⌀ 1.6 km | |
| Coordinates | 59 ° 8 ′ N , 136 ° 23 ′ W | |
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| drainage | Muir Inlet ( Glacier Bay ) | |
| particularities | until 1993 still tidal glaciers ; Glacier retreat | |
 Retreat of the glacier between 1941 and 1982 |
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The Muir Glacier is a glacier in Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska , about 124 km northwest of Hoonah .
geography
The glacier's nutrient zone is located on the southern flank of the Takhinsha Mountains in the Alsek Ranges . From there it flows southeast to Muir Inlet , a fjord of Glacier Bay . Between 1941 and 2004, the Muir Glacier retreated twelve kilometers due to the glacier melt , so that it no longer reaches the sea today.
Glacier development
Due to the steady retreat over the course of the 20th century, the Muir Glacier transformed from a tidal glacier to a land glacier around 1993 . In the early 2000s, the ice speed at the lower end of the glacier was almost 50 m per year. The ice thickness is steadily decreasing. The crevasses, typical of tidal glaciers, have now closed. The glacier retreat has progressed so far that the Morse Glacier, coming from the west, is now an independent glacier.
Naming
The glacier was named after John Muir (1838–1914), a Scottish-American polymath who discovered the glacier in 1879.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ National Snow and Ice Data Center: Glacier Photograph Collection
- ↑ a b c Daniel E. Lawson: An Overview of Selected Glaciers in Glacier Bay (PDF, 698 kB) National Park Service, US Dept. of the Interior. February 2004. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
- ↑ Muir Glacier in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey