Juneau - Meldenhall Glacier
I followed up on advice from fellow travellers on my previous visit to Juneau and went to see the Mendenhall Glacier which is on the city's outskirts. Tours were $30 but I learned about the local bus ($1.50 each way) which also allowed me to see a bit of Juneau, its more colourful citizens and including the local prison. It is odd to be at a supermarket one minute and then find that the glacier is just up the road.
It is a one mile hike from the bus stop to the Visitor Center alongside a forest covered with moss.
The sense of expectation grows as you walk along and then just around the corner you see the huge ice field and eventually, the glacier itself. It is just one of 38 glaciers that flow from the huge Juneau ice field. It has been in retreat since the 1700's . It shrinks at the rate of 100 to 150 feet per year. The visitor center has interior and exterior viewing platforms and excellent exhibitions. A film describes the glacier and rangers at a model of the glacier explain its characteristics. It is possible to walk close to the glacier but the footpath was closed for maintenance during my visit.
It is a one mile hike from the bus stop to the Visitor Center alongside a forest covered with moss.
The sense of expectation grows as you walk along and then just around the corner you see the huge ice field and eventually, the glacier itself. It is just one of 38 glaciers that flow from the huge Juneau ice field. It has been in retreat since the 1700's . It shrinks at the rate of 100 to 150 feet per year. The visitor center has interior and exterior viewing platforms and excellent exhibitions. A film describes the glacier and rangers at a model of the glacier explain its characteristics. It is possible to walk close to the glacier but the footpath was closed for maintenance during my visit.
Photo Gallery
This was the view when we docked in Juneau but the fog cleared and it was a sunny day. The slide show should appear in the adjacent window, but if it doesn't here is a link to it on the Picasa Website.
Click here
Click here
Hubbard Bay Glacier
This was my real reason for coming on a seoncd Alaska cruise. The first time I saw Glacier Bay National Park and this cruise went to Hubbard Gliacier which is about 200 miles farther north of Juneau. The glacier is nearly 80 miles long and its face where it reaches tidewater is 6 miles wide. The glacier advances and retreats each year but its overall state seems to be one of advance (GLOBAL WARMING SCEPTICS PLEASE NOTE).
The approach is fascinaitng, the ship went up a fjord and then entered Disenchantment Bay in front of the glacier which is packed with ice. Some of icebergs were as large as two pickup trucks (and that was the part I could see).
The approach is fascinaitng, the ship went up a fjord and then entered Disenchantment Bay in front of the glacier which is packed with ice. Some of icebergs were as large as two pickup trucks (and that was the part I could see).
Photo Gallery
Disenchanntment Bay is almost as fascinating as the glacier itself. The slide show should appear in the adjacent window, but if it doesn't here is a link to it on the Picasa Website.
Click here
Click here
The fine print
Date of travel : May 2011
Why does glacier ice look blue?
Glacier ice is often a deep blue color. This is because of how the sunlight passes through the ice and what happens to the sunlight. Sunlight looks white. The light is really made up of all the colors of the rainbow. Each of the sun's colors have different amounts of energy in them. When the sunlight tries to go through the solid glacier ice crystals the sun gets broken up into lots of colors. Red and yellow have very little energy and the thick ice soaks up the red light more than it soaks up the blue light. The blue light has enough extra energy to get away from the solid ice crystals without getting absorbed or soaked up. This is why the only color people see is the blue color that escaped. The blue light has enough energy to escape the ice so that you can see it. That is why glacial ice is often a deep blue color.
Why is glacier ice blue?
It partly depends on how dense the ice isGlaciers are created when decades upon decades of snow compact themselves into ice. As the ice crystals grow, they push out the air. The ice absorbs most light and reflects the short-wave-length blue light.
But as ice moves along and is exposed to warmer air or warmer water, the crystal structure breaks down and reflects all the light. That change, writes guide Karen Jettmar in "Alaska's Glacier Bay: A Traveler's Guide," makes the ice appear white.
And that's why the deepest blue coloration is often seen in fractured places: crevasses, towers and where chunks of ice have calved. The color may appear richest on cloudy days.
Source : http://www.alaska.com/glaciers/story/2034.html
Why does glacier ice look blue?
Glacier ice is often a deep blue color. This is because of how the sunlight passes through the ice and what happens to the sunlight. Sunlight looks white. The light is really made up of all the colors of the rainbow. Each of the sun's colors have different amounts of energy in them. When the sunlight tries to go through the solid glacier ice crystals the sun gets broken up into lots of colors. Red and yellow have very little energy and the thick ice soaks up the red light more than it soaks up the blue light. The blue light has enough extra energy to get away from the solid ice crystals without getting absorbed or soaked up. This is why the only color people see is the blue color that escaped. The blue light has enough energy to escape the ice so that you can see it. That is why glacial ice is often a deep blue color.
Why is glacier ice blue?
It partly depends on how dense the ice isGlaciers are created when decades upon decades of snow compact themselves into ice. As the ice crystals grow, they push out the air. The ice absorbs most light and reflects the short-wave-length blue light.
But as ice moves along and is exposed to warmer air or warmer water, the crystal structure breaks down and reflects all the light. That change, writes guide Karen Jettmar in "Alaska's Glacier Bay: A Traveler's Guide," makes the ice appear white.
And that's why the deepest blue coloration is often seen in fractured places: crevasses, towers and where chunks of ice have calved. The color may appear richest on cloudy days.
Source : http://www.alaska.com/glaciers/story/2034.html
