Patterson Glacier
A big part of travelling through Southeast Alaska is the visual impression of a landscape that is different than anything else to be seen in the Lower 48. A few who live in the Pacific Northwest or the higher parts of the Rocky Mountains will be seeing something familiar, but much more dramatic. So what is so different up here? The answer is glaciers! Nearly every square inch of this place has been sculpted by ice. The low rolling hills of the islands and bays have been ground down by a continental ice sheet that was more than 6000 feet thick 18,000 years ago. The jagged spires of the peaks that rise almost vertically from the seashore are the product of alpine glaciers that are still actively sculpting new landforms as we sail on the waters below.
One of these sculptors of the Earth is the Patterson Glacier, which can be visited by helicopter from the fishing village of Petersburg. Landing on the surface of the glacier, there is no clue of what is going on 300 feet below where the ice meets the rock of the valley down which it is flowing. Here the ice behaves like a big block of sandpaper, widening and deepening the valley underneath into a broad U-shape. The upper end of the glacier cuts back into the mountainside creating cirque amphitheaters and soaring glacial horns.
But the glaciers of Alaska are not happy campers in the alpine zone. The temperature in Alaska is soaring, as in many other places of the Earth, so the ice is rapidly melting away. In our picture of the day taken high up near the source of the glacier, you can see that all of the snow of the previous winter has melted away; so a little more of the Patterson Glacier will be transformed into meltwater again this year. Meanwhile down below on the Sea Bird we are feeling very lucky to have had two days in a row of sunshine and temperatures in the high 70's, which used to be a rarity in SE Alaska.
A big part of travelling through Southeast Alaska is the visual impression of a landscape that is different than anything else to be seen in the Lower 48. A few who live in the Pacific Northwest or the higher parts of the Rocky Mountains will be seeing something familiar, but much more dramatic. So what is so different up here? The answer is glaciers! Nearly every square inch of this place has been sculpted by ice. The low rolling hills of the islands and bays have been ground down by a continental ice sheet that was more than 6000 feet thick 18,000 years ago. The jagged spires of the peaks that rise almost vertically from the seashore are the product of alpine glaciers that are still actively sculpting new landforms as we sail on the waters below.
One of these sculptors of the Earth is the Patterson Glacier, which can be visited by helicopter from the fishing village of Petersburg. Landing on the surface of the glacier, there is no clue of what is going on 300 feet below where the ice meets the rock of the valley down which it is flowing. Here the ice behaves like a big block of sandpaper, widening and deepening the valley underneath into a broad U-shape. The upper end of the glacier cuts back into the mountainside creating cirque amphitheaters and soaring glacial horns.
But the glaciers of Alaska are not happy campers in the alpine zone. The temperature in Alaska is soaring, as in many other places of the Earth, so the ice is rapidly melting away. In our picture of the day taken high up near the source of the glacier, you can see that all of the snow of the previous winter has melted away; so a little more of the Patterson Glacier will be transformed into meltwater again this year. Meanwhile down below on the Sea Bird we are feeling very lucky to have had two days in a row of sunshine and temperatures in the high 70's, which used to be a rarity in SE Alaska.
