Hubbard Glacier on the Move (Again)

Hubbard Glacier

North of Yakutat within Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, spectacular Hubbard Glacier is North America’s largest tidewater glacier. Fed by the high mountains of the St. Elias Range, the glacier is six miles wide and more than 70 miles long. Many cruise ships make a stop in front of this massive glacier with an always-calving 400-foot-high wall of ice. It’s even more impressive from the air.

I joined a flightseeing trip with two fly-fishermen early one evening as the light was slanting over the mountains across this vast expanse of ice. Virtually all Alaskan glaciers are retreating as the climate warms, but Hubbard Glacier is the rare exception. Not only is it advancing, but doing so in a way that threatens to block off the waters of Russell Fiord (yes, fiord, not fjord, is the official spelling).

Hubbard Glacier closing off the outlet of Russell Fiord

Today, just 100 meters of open water separate the ice from a rocky point of land at Point Gilbert. If the glacier continues advancing, the gap could close, creating a dam that drastically changes the surrounding landscape. This occurred in 1986 when the water rose 75 feet behind an ice dam, trapping seals, sea lions, and porpoises. The ice gave way six months later, freeing the animals and reconnecting the fiord to Disenchantment Bay. A similar situation developed in 2002, and scientists believe it is only a matter of time till ice from the surging glacier creates a relatively permanent dam. If this happens, water would eventually flow down the Situk River, potentially impacting the river’s acclaimed steelhead trout and flooding the Yakutat airport.

The Tongass National Forest website has more info on the Hubbard Glacier, or see this Wikipedia story.

Russell Fiord and Hubbard Glacier

All text and photos © 2009 Don Pitcher

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