The Mendenhall Glacier

The Mendenhall Glacier flows 12 miles from the Juneau Ice Field at around 5,500 ft. above sea level to its terminus at just about sea level in the Mendenhall Valley. This glacier is one of the most easily accessable glaciers in the world and is Juneau's most visited attraction. Lately it has been reflecting more blue from deep within the crevasses. This is due to the fact that blue is the only color wavelength that can bounce back out of the extremely dense ice. On more cloudy days, the glacier is more blue because the clouds filter out the harsh sunlight that penetrates the ice and makes it more white.

Some people use the Juneau Ice Field as an example of global warming due to the fact that many of the 38 large glaciers in the area are melting -- the Mendenhall is losing 300-600 ft. of ice off its terminus every year. However, two of the largest glaciers in the Juneau area, the Taku and Hole-in-the-Wall glaciers, are getting bigger. That means enough snowfall is accumulating on the ice field to create glacial ice in place of the ice melting away from the terminus.

-- Christopher