Disappering Glaciers

On a sunny July day, I put on a heavy sweater, gloves, and hiking boots. That might seem like unusual gear for a summer day, but it’s not for exploring glaciers in Alaska’s Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve. An average summer day there reaches only 53˚F, and it can get much colder walking on the icy glaciers.

Wrangell-St. Elias is the U.S.’s largest national park. It’s bigger than Massachusetts and Vermont combined. Only about 20 people live in the park, which is 10 miles from the nearest town. Dall sheep and mountain goats climb the cliff sides. Bears and wolves roam the forests, and ice worms crawl around on the surface of glaciers.

But scientists are worried that this beautiful landscape is in danger. They say that climate change is heating up the planet. The warming temperatures are causing glaciers to melt faster than ever before. Melting glaciers could cause big problems for the region and around the world.

As I hiked the park’s enormous Root Glacier, I saw a huge crack in the ice, called a crevasse (kri-VASS). Blue ice faded into darkness as I looked down into it. Formations like this are caused by movements of the glaciers as they slowly slide down mountains (see How Glaciers Form).

As glaciers move, they carry rocks from the land. “You can think of glaciers as conveyor belts for rocks,” says Martin Truffer, a glaciologist at the University of Alaska. A glacier and the rocks it carries help carve out valleys and lakes in the ground, slowly changing the landscape.

Glaciers have existed in Alaska for thousands of years, but now they are shrinking. Studies have shown that since 1994, glaciers in Alaska have lost 75 billion tons of ice each year. Scientists believe it’s due to rising temperatures worldwide.

Earth’s atmosphere is getting hotter because of greenhouse gases. These gases act like a blanket, keeping heat from escaping into space. People create more of these gases by burning fossil fuels.

“The disappearance of the glaciers can have a big impact,” Truffer says. He explains that without the snow, wildlife like Dall sheep are struggling to find food. Animals with white coloring, such as birds called ptarmigan (TAHR-mi-guhn), have become easier for predators to hunt. 

But melting glaciers are a problem in more than just these regions. Water from the melting glaciers flows from land into the sea. This causes the sea level to rise. Rising seas could lead to flooding of coastal cities and towns all around the world.

Visiting the glaciers is an experience I’ll never forget. I hope they don’t disappear so that others will always have the chance to experience their beauty for themselves.