Our Alaska Cruise

September 2006

TUESDAY DAY 3 Lamplugh Glacier The topographical map shows that Lamplugh Glacier is quite a bit larger than Reid Glacier, but they both come from the same source: the Brady Icefield. The fact that we have icefields at all, like we find in Greenland, Antarctica, and yes, in Alaska, means that we are technically still in an ice age, and have been for a very long time. What people normally refer to as an "ice age" is a "glacial period," where glaciers drastically advance, and the time when the glaciers retreat, like now, is an "interglacial period." The piece at Wikipedia on ice ages is very interesting. The map shows the ground without the ice. Since the ice comes all the way down to the water, the entire floor of the valley shown is covered in ice. The "top of the slide" at the point where Reid and Lamplugh Glaciers split off is just over 2,300 feet. The terminus is naturally at sea level. The valley is about 9 miles long (about twice the valley holding the Reid Glacier). That makes it a 4.8% incline that the glacier is sliding down. (Since they come from the same point, Reid Glacier has twice the incline on its path to the sea.) If you would like to read up on how glaciers form and move I highly recommend that you start with the great article at Wikipedia on glaciers . Just a few short years ago, in the 1970s, scientists were predicting the possible onset of another ice age, because the earth was cooling. Now many are wringing their hands and crying that the sky is falling because temperatures are rising. Of course those who want to use fear to control people couldn't very well figure out how to use a coming ice age to do so, but global warming? Now that was a different story. And yet, here the very same factors that are supposed to be causing global warming today were in place in the 1970s as the temperatures were dropping. How can this be? Just in case you were wondering the same thing, and haven't come across this book yet, I would recommend it to you very highly. "The Chilling Stars: A New Theory of Climate Change was not written by a crackpot, or worse, a politician with an agenda, but it is written by Dr. Henrik Svensmark, a scientist who has inspired CERN to set up experiments with its particle accelerator to refine this theory even farther. It is serious science and it explains the changes in climate far better than the "carbon loading" theories running rampant today. The cooling in 1970s was predicted by this theory, as is the warming of today, and the general warming since the 1700s, when the Little Ice Age ended, and which melted the ice that once filled Glacier Bay. The theories in this book are far reaching, and they have touched not only upon climate change throughout Earth's history, but upon astronomy, cosmology, and many other fields of science. Other scientists are basing their work in these other fields upon the ideas contained here. If you have an inquiring mind, and you like science, this book is a must read!

GLACIER BAY September 19, 2006 In order to give both sides of the ship a good view, the captain had the ship going in various circuitous paths. This is the Lamplugh Glacier, off the starboard side and aft of the ship. The ship was often turning and we would soon be going past this same glacier, in the opposite direction, on our way into the John Hopkins Inlet, over the mouth of which the Lamplugh Glacier stands guard. Here we are headed due west, right at the mouth of the John Hopkins Inlet. The point of land on the right marks the start of the inlet, and the Lamplugh Glacier's terminus, the west end of which is just visible on our port side, is fully inside the inlet. The mountains off in the far distance straight ahead hold several "alpine glaciers," suspended high above the water. The first of these that we saw was the Topeka Glacier. Turning once again to give us more of a view of the Lamplugh Glacier, which is still dropping ice into the water, though it is retreating, as is the Reid Glacier we saw on the last page. Lamplugh averages around 155 feet above the water line, and varies from 10 to 40 feet under the water. Standing high above the glacier is the 6,780-foot Mt. Cooper. What makes that interesting is that the foot of the mountain is standing in the ocean. We are less than 5 miles from the top of the mountain, and it is over a mile high. If you measured the angle from base to top it would be 16°, whereas the 14,115-foot Pike's Peak would only cover 15° when viewed from 10 miles away in Colorado Springs. The clouds are hanging low over Glacier Bay and they do drop some occasional rain. Still, our verandah is covered and I wasn't going to miss this! The mouth of John Hopkins Inlet, and here we go into it. Clouds and glaciers both hang on the mountains in the background, and the gray and white colors merge into an eerie backdrop for our adventure. What secrets were in store for us to uncover? I couldn't see any ice in the water. Would we see any more? This final look at Lamplugh Glacier was actually our best, and unfortunately it wasn't until we were on our way out, at something over 20 knots. On our way out of the John Hopkins Inlet, since we were heading due east, this glacier to the south was right off our starboard side. It seemed odd looking right up the glacial valley this way. The Lamplugh Glacier is dirtier than the Reid Glacier was. There is no part of this one that would seem to be "good enough to eat," and the right side is especially dirty. The reason for this is that the left side has an almost straight edge all the way up the valley to the Brady Icefield. It doesn't have to expand and contract as much to match the surface it is sliding against. The right side has a quite different arrangement. There are some large changes in the contours of it sliding surface. This forces it to change shape by pushing and dragging against the rock far more severely. The rock reacts by breaking up and dropping down in rockslides on to of the ice. How high was the ice in this valley we are looking at when the entire 65 miles of the bay were filled with ice? What did it look like then? Did it flow, or did it just rest waiting, for the thaw? Just imagine what it would take to gouge and mark these rock surfaces this way! Ice sliding along, with boulders imbedded inside, held in place and used much like a key in the hand of a vandal down the side of a car, marring and scaring the surface as it goes along. But in this case there are many "hands" holding many "keys" because the marks are high and low and in between. High above us rests an "alpine glacier", similar to the ones you would find on very tall mountains around the world. This type of glacier does not move down to the sea, and it cannot create icebergs. But it does shape the rocks beneath it. It was hard for me to visualize what it would have been like when this entire valley was filled with ice. This alpine glacier may well have been even with or even covered by the top of the ice pack here. A gull flies by in search of a meal, and it looks almost black against the gray sky. On to page 3 of Glacier Bay Back to page 1 of Glacier Bay Back to Day 3 of the Cruise

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