Thursday 25 March 2010

Catch the glacier!

Here's an interesting thing (well, I'm interested) - there's a glacier in Alaska called the Hubbard Glacier which is advancing so far and so quickly that it's threatening to dam a river and create a glacial lake. It's done this before (with debris that it shoved against the opposite shore in 1984 and in 2002) and there's a possibility that the lake it creates will overflow into a small creek, enlarging the creek by about 20 times and possibly ruining some fisheries - as well as possibly flooding villages!

The US Geological Survey says that calving glaciers are not affected by climate and it will keep coming - it's been advancing for over a century and it's moving at a speed of 32 metres per year into Disenchantment Bay (must have been a right cheery cartographer who named that).
It's 123km long, as high as 100 m above sea level and 414 m below sea level with a calving face that is 11.4 km in length. That's some monster on the move.
To think some people complained about clearing the snow from their own paths this winter.
Mind how you slide!

1 comment:

masterymistery said...

Fascinating. I've read a theory that flood myths in many cultures are based upon the sudden catastrophic disintegration of glacial lakes. Graham Hancock's "underworld" -- highly recommended.

masterymistery at cosmic rapture