Juneau Icefield

The Juneau Icefield or Juneau Icecap is an ice field located just north of Juneau, Alaska and continues north through the border with British Columbia and the fifth-largest ice field in the Western Hemisphere [http://www.juneauicefield.org/] .The Juneau Icefield is the fifth largest icefield in North America, extending through an area of 3,900 square kilometers in the Coast Range ranging 140 km north to south and 75 km east to west. The icefield is the source of a myriad of glaciers including the famous "drive-up" Mendenhall Glacier and the aggressive Taku Glacier. The icefield in fact is home to over 40 large valley glaciers and 100 smaller ones. The Icefield serves as a tourist attraction with many travellers flown in by helicopter for quick walks on the 240 to 1,400 meter deep ice and the massive, awe-inspiring crevasses. The icefield, like many of its glaciers, reached its maximum glaciation point around 1700 and has been decreasing in size since. In fact, of the icefield's 19 notable glaciers, the Taku Glacier is the only one presently advancing.

Since 1948, the Juneau Icefield Research Program has monitored glaciers of the Juneau Icefield. On the west side of the icefield, from 1946-2005, the terminus of the Mendenhall Glacier has retreated 580 meters. driving the advance. From 1987-2005 the glacier has had a slightly negative mass balance, not enough to end the advance, but if it continues will soon slow it.

A notable peak in the Juneau Icefield is Devils Paw.

ee also

*List of glaciers and icefields
*Mendenhall Glacier
*Taku Glacier
*Retreat of glaciers since 1850
*Ha-Iltzuk Icefield
*Homathko Icefield
*Lillooet Icecap

External links

* [http://www.nichols.edu/departments/Glacier/juneau%20icefield.htm Terminus Behvaior of Juneau Icefield Glaciers 1948-2005]
* [http://www.fs.fed.us/r10/tongass/forest_facts/resources/geology/mendenhall.htm Forest Service overview]
* [http://www.jirp.org Juneau Icefield Research Program]
* [http://bivouac.com/ArxPg.asp?ArxId=1412 Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia: Juneau Icefield entry]
* [http://crevassezone.org/ crevassezone.org]
* [http://glacierbliss.com/ More Pictures from the Juneau Icefield]
* [http://www.pulitzercenter.org/openitem.cfm?id=243 Pulitzer Center Crisis Reporting] Juneau Icefield Research (multimedia)