Why is glacier ice blue?
Glacier ice is blue because the red (long wavelengths) part of white light is absorbed by ice and the blue (short wavelengths) light is transmitted and scattered. The longer the path light travels in ice, the more blue it appears.
Learn more: USGS Water Science School - Glaciers: Things to Know
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Glaciers Rapidly Shrinking and Disappearing: 50 Years of Glacier Change in Montana
The warming climate has dramatically reduced the size of 39 glaciers in Montana since 1966, some by as much as 85 percent, according to data released by the U.S. Geological Survey and Portland State University.
Fifty Years of Glacier Change Research in Alaska
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — This year marks the 50th anniversary of one of the longest continuous glacier research efforts in North America.
From Icefield to Ocean - What Glacier Change Might Mean for the Future of Alaska
Frozen bodies of ice cover nearly 10 percent of the state of Alaska, but the influence of glaciers on the environment, tourism, fisheries, hydropower, and other important Alaska resources is rarely discussed.
Melting Glaciers Increase the Flow of Carbon to Downstream Ecosystems
ANCHORAGE, Alaska Melting glaciers are not just impacting sea level, they are also affecting the flow of organic carbon to the world’s oceans, according to new research that provides the first ever global-scale estimates for the storage and release of organic carbon from glaciers.
Rare Insect Found Only in Glacier National Park Imperiled by Melting Glaciers
The persistence of an already rare aquatic insect, the western glacier stonefly, is being imperiled by the loss of glaciers and increased stream temperatures due to climate warming in mountain ecosystems, according to a new study released in Freshwater Science.
Juneau Icefield
Photograph of the Juneau icefields of southeastern Alaska that contain more than 140 glaciers which extend over 1,500 square miles (3,900 square km). Fieldwork in Alaska for the Terrestrial Records of Holocene Climate Change project from July 29 to August 10, 2016.
Mapping the glacier's edge in Glacier National Park.
Mapping the glacier's edge in Glacier National Park.
Blue Ice
Ice is pushed away from the hull of the Coast Guard Cutter Healy Aug. 26, 2009.
Surprise Glacier
Surprise Glacier (in background), Harriman Fiord, western Prince William Sound.
Columbia Glacier Calving
A dramatic iceberg calving from Columbia Glacier in Prince William Sound, Alaska. The iceberg has just broken free from under the water and shot to the surface, spinning towards the ice face. The ice cliff here is about 70 m (229.7 ft) tall. Icebergs are calved as stress fractures in the glacier merge, eventually resulting in a piece of ice cracking off and falling into
...Denali Fault: Canwell Glacier
Peter Haeussler prepares to measure the offset of a crevasse on the Canwell Glacier.
Muir Glacier and Muir Inlet 1980
This ship-deck-based August 1980 photograph of Muir Glacier and Muir Inlet, Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, St. Elias Mountains, Alaska, shows the nearly 200-ft-high retreating tidewater end of Muir Glacier with part of its face capped by a few angular pinnacles of ice, called séracs. Note the icebergs in the ship's wake in the lower right side of the photograph.
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