Portage Glacier - Northern Kenai Peninsual
Portage Valley is the home to at least 6 different Glaciers. The most visible and easiest to get to is Portage Glacier which empties into Portage Lake. Five of the glaciers people are able to hike to, including Portage, for a closer look. The last is not much more than a big snow packed area now and is very isolated.
At one time Portage and Burns Glaciers were one glacier eventually creating Portage Lake. Nestled between the Chugach and Kenai mountains, the weather in this region is a changeable as the winds. While it might be 55 degrees in Anchorage just 55 miles away, there may be gale force winds with driving rains in the Portage Valley.
"Portage Pass is a narrow land bridge between Prince William Sound (Seward) and Turnagain Arm (superb of Anchorage). As the air pressure between the two areas equalizes, extremely high winds can be created. These winds have snapped 50 foot flagpoles like twigs, peeled away asphalt, and lifted boxcars from the railroad tracks."
The ice found in our refrigerators is clear because the air bubbles scatter the light--creating the white appearance. When sunlight strikes glacier ice, the lower energy colors are absorbed by the ice and only the blue color (which has the most energy) is reflected back to the eye.
I know I have said it before, but it bears repeating that glacier ice is formed under the weight of countless snowfalls, which squeeze out most of the air, leaving dense, compact ice.
We came in search of ice worms. All we found were the ones at the Visitor Center, where a penny is compared to the size of the ordinary ice worm. Yes, the ice worm is related to the earth worm.
Resembling a piece of dark thread, the ice worm can reach a length of 1 inch and 1/32 of an inch in diameter. The dark pigmentation protects them from the sun's ultraviolet rays. Thus they can only be found at night or maybe under very cloudy, dark conditions. The ice worms are often found in large colonies containing millions of worms. They live on red algae which grows on glacial snowpacks; and it is believed they may forage for pollen grains blown onto the glacier and snowpack by the winds. If the surrounding temperatures increases much above 40 F, the worms become lethargic and begin to disintegrate. If a human finger touches an ice worm it may instantly die from the heat.
These 3 pictures represent the town of Portage after the 1964 earthquake. It is very hard to imagine that the earth could and would drop 8 to 9 feet at one time. Alaska's south saw a lot of devastation from that earthquake.
At one time Portage and Burns Glaciers were one glacier eventually creating Portage Lake. Nestled between the Chugach and Kenai mountains, the weather in this region is a changeable as the winds. While it might be 55 degrees in Anchorage just 55 miles away, there may be gale force winds with driving rains in the Portage Valley.
"Portage Pass is a narrow land bridge between Prince William Sound (Seward) and Turnagain Arm (superb of Anchorage). As the air pressure between the two areas equalizes, extremely high winds can be created. These winds have snapped 50 foot flagpoles like twigs, peeled away asphalt, and lifted boxcars from the railroad tracks."
The ice found in our refrigerators is clear because the air bubbles scatter the light--creating the white appearance. When sunlight strikes glacier ice, the lower energy colors are absorbed by the ice and only the blue color (which has the most energy) is reflected back to the eye.
I know I have said it before, but it bears repeating that glacier ice is formed under the weight of countless snowfalls, which squeeze out most of the air, leaving dense, compact ice.
We came in search of ice worms. All we found were the ones at the Visitor Center, where a penny is compared to the size of the ordinary ice worm. Yes, the ice worm is related to the earth worm.
Resembling a piece of dark thread, the ice worm can reach a length of 1 inch and 1/32 of an inch in diameter. The dark pigmentation protects them from the sun's ultraviolet rays. Thus they can only be found at night or maybe under very cloudy, dark conditions. The ice worms are often found in large colonies containing millions of worms. They live on red algae which grows on glacial snowpacks; and it is believed they may forage for pollen grains blown onto the glacier and snowpack by the winds. If the surrounding temperatures increases much above 40 F, the worms become lethargic and begin to disintegrate. If a human finger touches an ice worm it may instantly die from the heat.
These 3 pictures represent the town of Portage after the 1964 earthquake. It is very hard to imagine that the earth could and would drop 8 to 9 feet at one time. Alaska's south saw a lot of devastation from that earthquake.
posted by Traveling with Katydid @ 9:25 PM
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