Tlingit Indians
and their ancestors had both permanent and seasonal settlements in
much of what is now Glacier Bay National Park. Several hundred years
ago at the end of the Little Ice Age, advancing glaciers forced the
Tlingit people to abandon their villages and move to Hoonah, across
Icy Strait from Glacier Bay.
In 1794, Captain George Vancouver of the H.M.S. Discovery and Lt.
Joseph Whidbey describe Glacier Bay as "a compact sheet of ice as
far as the eye could distinguish." The "bay" is a mere
5-mile indentation in the coastline.
In 1879, John Muir enters the bay in a dugout canoe. Glacial ice has
retreated into the bay 40 miles since 1794. Muir's vivid descriptions
of the glaciers marks the start of Glacier Bay as a tourist
destination.
In 1925, President Coolidge establishes Glacier Bay National Monument.
In 1980, Glacier Bay becomes a national park and preserve.
Tidewater Glaciers A tidal or tidewater glacier is defined as "a glacier that terminates in the sea, where it usually ends in an ice cliff from which icebergs are discharged". Tidal glaciers were much more widespread during the
Pleistocene era. Today, tidal glaciers are most common in Antarctica, Greenland, Norway, Arctic islands and southeastern Alaska.
Tidewater glaciers in Glacier Bay can reach over 250 feet in height.
By comparison the Statue of Liberty is 307 feet tall:
Calving
Glacial calving occurs when ice breaks off the face of a glacier and
falls into the water. The pieces of ice that break off the face can be
hundreds of feet in length.
Click picture to view video showing
calving glacier.
(Courtesy NASA)
Tlingit Indians
and their ancestors had both permanent and seasonal settlements in
much of what is now Glacier Bay National Park. Several hundred years
ago at the end of the Little Ice Age, advancing glaciers forced the
Tlingit people to abandon their villages and move to Hoonah, across
Icy Strait from Glacier Bay.
