Glacier Bay National Park in southeast Alaska • Earth.com

Glacier Bay National Park in southeast Alaska

01-06-2023

Today’s Video of the Day from the European Space Agency features part of the Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve on the coast of southeast Alaska. This region has a diverse group of animals, such as humpback whales, orcas, sea otters, bears, moose, wolves and mountain goats. The landscape of Glacier Bay includes rugged mountains, freshwater lakes, glaciers and deep fjords.

“The bay contains some of the world’s most impressive glaciers that descend from the ice-covered St. Elias Range in the east and the Fairweather Range in the west, with a few notable tidewater glaciers extending all the way to the sea,” reports NASA.

“Glacier Bay is just one of the many areas suffering from the effects of global warming. The bay is expected to become warmer and drier over the next century, with widespread effects including the further shrinking glaciers, reduced sea ice and shoreline erosion.”

The remoteness of the area makes it challenging to monitor, but satellite images provide an opportunity for scientists to observe and study Glacier Bay with great detail. In 2021, experts with ESA’s CryoSat mission used radar altimeter data to determine how much ice has been lost from mountain glaciers in the region. 

Video/ Image Credit: ESA

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

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