The Grace of Glaciers
Certain eloquent moments in the natural world cause a welling up in me that yields unexpected, unbidden tears. It happened the first time I witnessed a breaching whale, and again when I saw a wolf on a far-off ridge in Yellowstone Park raise its nose to the day, then finally heard its plaintive howl several seconds later. The same welling up occurs when I witness a glacier “calving”—that moment an icy edge lets go and plummets down in a cacophony: Crash. Splash. Rumble. Scrape. Crack! Sploosh. Glaciers are amazing.
Lowell Glacier from Goatherd Mountain
Tweedsmuir Glacier (the muddy Alsek River in front)
It’s tempting to frame an understanding of glaciers through facts. The National Snow and Ice Data Center (Colorado) website said that ten percent of land is covered by glaciers, and sea level will rise approximately 70 meters worldwide if all that ice melts. Some Antarctic ice is over 4,200 meters thick; glaciers store about 75 percent of the world's freshwater. Ice shelves in the Antarctic calve icebergs more than 80 kilometers long, and glacial ice crystals can be the size of baseballs. The bluer the ice the denser, as eons of pressure coax out even the tiniest pockets of air. (Full disclosure: these facts were true when this blog first appeared back in 2010, and much has changed...)
Walking on Walker Glacier (Alsek River)
Blue hole on Walker Glacier (Alsek River)
But my understanding of glaciers is more personal. It started in 2009 in the world’s second-largest non-polar ice cap in Wrangell-St.Elias National Park (Alaska and Canada). For sixteen days on the Alsek River, we visited many glaciers, starting with Lowell Glacier (particularly fun, since I live in Lowell, Michigan). We rafted past them and often hiked on them. I tried to bite into shards of the ancient, clear ice. The density makes such a stunt impossible. I discovered glaciers to be as individual as people, some smooth and approachable, others prickly and difficult. Each is a magnificent natural sculpture, kinetic art that alters the surroundings while being altered by them in turn. Glaciers may be slow, but they are always engaged with the world, reshaping it. Even on glacial lakes there is continuous splash and ripple as icebergs which fell from the glaciers, some as large as apartment buildings, calve too.
Lake Alsek’s giant icebergs–see the glacier in the distance?
Lake Alsek glacier iceberg sculptures
To me, glaciers seem like immense organic beings, not just lumps of ice. This notion, hatched in Alaska, was confirmed on a visit to the world’s largest non-polar icefield in Patagonia at the tip of South America. Glaciers have moods, and good days and bad. As we approached Argentina’s Perito Moreno glacier from a vantage point above it, severe winds sent up such intense spray that it made a wind-bow below us (sort of like a rainbow, but better). Later, while walking on the glacier with crampons, we paid close attention to the guides for fear of becoming lost in the spires and valleys.
The face of Fox Glacier, Chile
Perito Moreno glacier, Argentina
I ponder the varied eloquence of glaciers and their gifts of wonder. To be in the presence of a glacier is like being with a treasured teacher. The size and power yet grace and mystery of a glacier reminds me that while my own needs and cares are valid, they are puny. To encounter a glacier is to be humbled in a most wonderful way.
The face of Perito Moreno Glacier from the ferry
Perito Moreno Glacier up close
Yet Earth’s changing climate, thanks largely to human impact, makes for a doubtful future for glaciers. This is well known. I am saddened, the way a beached whale saddens me. Can we prevent such devastating losses? I hope humankind collectively takes heed in time.
To see an impressive sequence of glacial calving, see the 2:26min video of Moreno Glacier (Argentina, Feb. 2011) by Mary Allen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDe-gL8KaIU
Walking with crampons on the (shrinking) Perito Moreno Glacier
(This blog, now updated, originally appeared at my friend Susan’s blogsite, “Design Destinations” in March, 2011. Since then, I’m sad to say, the health of glaciers has worsened. Many (most?) are in critical condition. Soon, there will be no more glaciers in the European high country. Greenlanders are unable to sustain their ancient ways because the ice is no longer adequate for them or the critters they hunt. And, and, and.... Sigh. The planet is warming, There is no denying it.)
"Dirty Glacier" hanging above Dirty Lake, near El Chalten (Argentina)
