Glaciers

What I knew about glaciers came from books until my first trip to Alaska, where I got to see glaciers firsthand. I even flew over them in a float-plane that gave me an up-close look. On my second trip to Alaska, I didn't see as many, but they were there. However, in southern Alaska you may only see their edges during tourist season because of the summer melt.

Glaciers are defined as "a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight." It forms over many years and often centuries. They change the terrain from the stress of their weight. As a student, my mind had pictured this relatively smooth surface similar to a winter snowfall. However, glaciers are often made up of crevasses and jagged terrain too uneven and full of trenches and canyons to walk across.

Glaciers only form over land and are different than the much thinner ice that forms over water. Icebergs, however, are hunks of ice that broke from glaciers and now float in bodies of water. Glacial ice comprises the largest amount of fresh water on earth. Their freezing and thawing can affect water levels across the world. Because they're so sensitive to weather, they're considered one of the best indicators of climate change that we have.

I was surprised by their distinctively blue color as I flew over them. A glacier appears blue because it absorbs the other colors but not all the blue, and some of the blue is reflected. This may vary on sunny and cloudy days. Glaciers also lack the air bubbles that give ice a white color. If you think about it, large bodies of water also appear some shade of blue. But if you scooped up a glass-full, it wouldn't be blue.

I found my trips to Alaska and what I learned about the glaciers very interesting. Besides my love of history and English, I'm also fascinated by the natural sciences. Well, at least I'm interested in so many things that I'm never bored. All these varied interests also come in handy in blogging.

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