Columbia Glacier Goes Back

2001/12/17 Kortabarria Olabarria, Beñardo - Elhuyar Zientzia

• Geologia
• Hidrologia

In the next ten years the Columbia Glacier in Alaska can go back up to 10 kilometers. Researchers from the U.S. University of Colorado have reached this conclusion, which over the past 25 years have studied Columbia Glacier. The glacier moves constantly and loses more by the base than by the surface, so it is becoming smaller and smaller. Due to the pressure of the ice, the internal layers of the glacier are blended and act similarly to hydraulic systems, increasing the displacement of the glacier. The Columbia Glacier research team believes that the place where the glacier is now located will become a fiord.

This Alaska glacier can only have a reason to retreat, but all have to do with the problem of global warming. The Columbia Glacier enters the sea. In this zone of mouth the glacier floats and increases the speed of the glacier backwards. Although the researchers have focused on photographs to follow the evolution of the glacier, stereoscopic images were also used in 1999 to observe this evolution. Thanks to this and other studies carried out, the researchers have been able to verify the movement of the glacier regarding the land that surrounds it.

The Columbia Glacier is currently 55 kilometers long, 5 kilometers wide and in certain areas reaches 900 meters thick. Since 1982, the glacier has receded 11 kilometers.