Hi! I'm Tom VandenBerg. Welcome to another edition of Glacier Bay's
Ranger Minutes.
Probably more that any other national park Glacier Bay is a place where one
can get a feel for how dynamic and exciting our world truly is.
A place where geologic events can happen within a human life span.
For two hundred and fifty years glacier bay and its visitors have been witness to
the dynamic retreat of its glaciers.
Indeed it's the site of one of the fastest glacier retreats
ever documented.
Luckily for us, early explorers and scientists documented the condition and
location of these glaciers using the art of photography.
Later these historic photographs were used as reference points by todays glaciologists
as they continue to document the rapid retreat of glacier ice.
They're hoping to get a further understanding of the complex nature of
these tidewater glaciers.
Through the study of glacial landscape features, remains of ancient forests that
grew between the periods of ice advance, and even native Tlingit oral
histories,
the complex an exciting story of the ebb and flow of Glacier Bay's tidewater glaciers
is beginning to reveal itself.
Even as today's changing climate is quickly diminishing glaciers worldwide,
Glacier Bay remains a place of hope
where a handful of healthy glaciers still exist,
a place where one can still experience the power and beauty of glaciers.
Today, I invite you to take a closer look at the nature of glacier bay's glaciers
through the lens of history as we go back to a time when this landscape was
still covered
entirely by ice.