Glaciers of the Icefields in Columbia
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Glaciers of the Icefields in Columbia
The Athabasca and Saskatchewan Glacier are the two principal glaciers in this ice field. Covering an area of approximately 30 square kilometers, the Athabasca is the most easily visible glacier in the Columbia ice field. Lengthy studies of the terminals of this glacier have yielded data typical of many glaciers proximal to the Canadian Rockies. This is especially so with respect to fluctuations of the volume and the associated climatic change. Photographic information, historical records, as well as mapping date back to 1897. Nevertheless, tree-ring surveys close to the ice have provided data that stretch a number of centuries back. For instance, we now know a major advance of ice culminated on Athabasca Glacier in 1715. At the time, the Athabasca terminus was advanced. The glacier then receded after another advance in 1715.
You will also want to know about the Saskatchewan Glacier. This one covers an area of 60 square kilometers and is the second largest on this ice field. However, you will not see it from this highway. You will require rising gently from the termini in order to obtain an easier access to the high zone of the ice field. The depth of ice in the Saskatchewan has been estimated to be over 440 meters. Nonetheless, other aspects like velocity, ablation, as well as accumulation compare significantly with the other principal glaciers.
We are aware you have always wished to get near a glacier. Moreover, you have wanted to stand proximal to it, watch, and listen as enormous ice blocks fall off the parent glacier and down the mountainside. You may also have desired to stand across the uniquely colored glacial pond waters with small icebergs that dot the surface of the pond. In addition, you have wanted to stroll across the subalpine and alpine meadows characterized by fragile wildflowers, stunted trees, as well as meadows containing a thrilling view of glaciated mountains. The Columbia Icefield, on which you are in currently, will provide all this experience. The glaciers you can see all around in this field are over 30 in number, and you may not need to walk much because the glaciers are very close to each other. They might seem to be widely separated, but that is just illusion because of the light shining across the bright ice. Athabasca is the largest glacier in the field. Other glaciers you might see from this point, depending on how good your eyesight is, are the Dome and Stutfield. The rest are concealed by the mountains, or too small to be seen from here unless you take a hike through the ice field (Freeman, 2009).
The Athabasca Glacier, a gentle, 6-kilometer ice tongue, flows persistently from the Columbia Icefields. You might be considering exploring this glacier further and taking a hike up to the top. Your hike is likely to gain from 655 to 2050 meters vertically on the glacier. The trips are enjoyable, especially if you are able to walk leisurely during day hours. However, you should be cautioned that climbing onto the glacier is an equally dangerous task, especially if you are doing it for the first time. You may fall off, especially if your feet freeze when you are mid-way up. This fall can be fatal. Therefore, unless you are well trained, or a skilled person accompanies you, you are not advised to take this hike.
However, we understand some of you are coming to the Jasper National Park for their first time, and may not have an idea about what a glacier is and how it is formed. A glacier is an immense, amorphous, and dense body of ice covering a surface area of more than 0.1 square kilometers. It moves constantly under its pull of gravity. Glacier formation occurs when accumulated snow goes beyond its sublimation and melting points. Weight-induced stresses, serapes, as well as creating crevasses deform glaciers slowly, making them start flowing. Through abrasion of rock debris from the substrate of the glacier, landforms like moraines and cirques are created. Of note, glaciers will form on the land's surface only and can be distinguished easily from the thinner lake ice found on water bodies (Hambley, 2004).
Did you know that Athabasca Glacier forms the largest freshwater reservoir on Earth? The glacier extends into areas that have alpine, seasonal, temperate, and polar climates. It stores large amounts of water as ice when it is cold. The water is released during the dry spell as melt water due to summer temperature. In this way, a water body is created, and this source of water is especially critical for creating animals, human, as well as plant use at times when water from other sources becomes scanty. In high altitude areas and Antarctica, the temperature difference due to seasonal variations is often insufficient to cause the release of the melt water. Precipitations, cloud cover, and mean temperature has been singled out as the climate changes that affect the size as well as the movement of the glacial mass. Therefore, mass changes of the Athabasca Glacier are quite reliable indicators of climatic change, as well as a major cause of sea level variations (Sandford, 2009).
Morphology, behavior, as well as thermal characteristics are all features that can be used to categorize glaciers. The Athabasca Glacier is in the temperate category, when looked at in terms of thermal classification. This means that it stays just within the melting point at all times. Its base and surface tend to melt throughout the year. The ice always stays below its freezing point, both at the base and the surface. However, the snowpack at the surface might experience a little melting when seasons change rapidly. Some people have considered the Athabasca Glacier to be of a mixed form, claiming it has elements of both temperate and polar ice. This view has put into consideration the depth the glacier goes beneath the earth's surface, as well as its position across the glacier length. Similarly, some scientists describe the glacier thermal regime as consisting of the temperature of the glacier base alone.
A study of evolution indicates that the area around the glaciers also had other types of glaciers, which disappeared with time for reasons not well known today. Cold-based glaciers were one of the kinds of glaciers that one could find then. However, they were smaller compared to the glaciers that remain to date, but both forms were interspersed between one another. Cold-based glaciers are usually characterized by lower temperatures that fall significantly below the freezing point, which makes the interface between the ground and the ice not easily discernible.
The picture shown below is one section of the Columbia Icefield: the field lying directly ahead of you. The Athabasca is easily discernible, and the two other tongues are the Stutfield and the Dome. The smaller glaciers are difficult to see from this point, and most are hidden by the large mountain ranges. As you will see, identifying each element in the glacier mass is easy. The scenery is excellent, and would be suitable for young children because they like such spectacular scenes. The loop shown extends to a whooping 2 miles, but the elevation gain is not much. The loop, with markings meant to act as display signs, leads one to Cavell Pond. The dirt-covered Glacier called Cavell feeds this pond. Small icebergs may be found floating in the bluish-green water, whose color is, derived from the sediments the melting ice deposits.
Figure 1 above shows the icefield and its parkway (Icefield of Columbia, n.d.). This way leads to the Columbia Icefields.
The picture below is a close view of the Columbia Icefield, and the focus has been directed at the Athabasca Glacier. The visual representation is meant to act as a guide to somebody who might be willing to take a hike. Though the picture does not show the dimensions, the field goes up to 150-450 meters deep. In addition, there are peaks that surround the Athabasca and most of them rise over 3000 meters. The Athabasca Glacier has ice blocks falling down into an extremely narrow gorge. A man can be seen walking along a walkway that has been constructed to enable you observe the glacier from various vantage points. All the points will provide excellent views of the bubbling ice-cold water. From the representation are also pavements, to be found on either side. Therefore, you can choose to walk downstream to see the water swirl and crash around the obstacles in the canyon. The thunder-like sounds you might be hearing are from massive ice blocks falling off the glacier. These aspects of the glacier make a hike risky.
Figure 2 shows a close view of the Columbia Icefield (Experiencing Glaciers at Columbia, n.d.).
Figure 2
If history interests you, a brief history on the discovery and changes over time is available. Hermann Woolley and Norman Collin first discovered the ice field in the year 1898. They were travelling in an automobile along the modern day Icefields Parkway when they discovered the fascinating scenes. They described up to eight glaciers that were being fed on the ice field. These were Athabasca, Dome, Stutfield, Castleguard, Saskatchewan, and Columbia, among others. Since the discovery, many changes have occurred partly due to the Continental Drift and other geological formations. For instance, the Athabasca has receded substantially since the largest 1844 post-modern-era extent. The glacier was too risky then for the two to attempt climbing onto its top. Today, skilled climbers can go atop any glacier in the Columbia Icefield, particularly if they can access an enormous snow coach. Experts in ski mountaineering have also made the Columbia Icefield a major destination during winter months.
The Columbia Icefield will give an awe-inspiring, attractive glimpse of ice-fed streamlets and icy crevasses. The streamlets are the principal sources of the North Saskatchewan River as well as the Athabasca River, which owe their voluminous flow to the Columbia Icefield. A few tributaries of the Columbia River also originate from the ice field. Since the ice field lays atop a Continental Divide, the waters of all these rivers flow eastwards to Hudson Bay, north towards the Arctic Ocean, and southwestern towards the Pacific Ocean. Some people consider Hudson Bay to lay in the watershed in the Arctic in a few divisions. Arguably, this is not a point of continental divide of any kind.