Taku Glacier
Taku Glacier
Type	Tidewater glacier
Location	Alaska, U.S.
Coordinates	58°27′49″N, 134°10′47″W
Area	261 square miles (428 square kilometers)
Length	57 miles (92 km)
Terminus	Taku River
Status	Advancing

Taku Glacier is a tidewater glacier located in Taku Inlet in the U.S. state of Alaska, just southeast of the city of Juneau. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Official language(s) English Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Area  Ranked 1st  - Total 663,267 sq mi (1,717,855 km²)  - Width 808 miles (1,300 km)  - Length 1,479 miles (2,380 km)  - % water 13. ... Motto: (Out Of Many, One) (traditional) In God We Trust (1956 to date) Anthem: The Star-Spangled Banner Capital Washington D.C. Largest city New York City None at federal level (English de facto) Government Federal constitutional republic  - President George Walker Bush (R)  - Vice President Dick Cheney (R) Independence from... Map of Earth showing lines of latitude (horizontally) and longitude (vertically), Eckert VI projection; large version (pdf, 1. ... The Taku River is a river in British Columbia and Alaska. ... Austrias longest glacier, the Pasterze, winds its 8 km (5 mile) route at the foot of Austrias highest mountain, the Grossglockner A glacier is a large, long-lasting river of ice that is formed on land and moves in response to gravity. ... Federal courts Supreme Court Chief Justice Associate Justices Elections Presidential elections Midterm elections Political Parties Democratic Republican Third parties Libertarian Party State & Local government Governors Legislatures (List) State Courts Counties, Cities, and Towns Other countries Politics Portal      A U.S. state is any one of the fifty subnational entities of... Official language(s) English Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Area  Ranked 1st  - Total 663,267 sq mi (1,717,855 km²)  - Width 808 miles (1,300 km)  - Length 1,479 miles (2,380 km)  - % water 13. ... Location in Juneau City and Borough, Alaska Coordinates: Country United States State Alaska Borough Juneau City and Borough Founded 1881 Incorporated 1890  - Mayor Bruce Botelho Area    - City  3,255. ...

The glacier was originally named Schultze Glacier in 1883 and the Foster Glacier in 1890, but Taku, the name the local Tlingit natives had for the glacier, eventually stuck. It is nestled in the Coast Mountains and originates in the Juneau Icefield. It is the largest glacier in the icefield and one of the southernmost tidewater glaciers of the northern hemisphere. 1883 (MDCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1890 (MDCCCXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the Julian calendar). ... A Tlingit totem pole in Ketchikan ca. ... The Coast Mountains are the westernmost range of the Pacific Cordillera, running along the south western shore of the North American continent, extending south from the Alaska Panhandle and covering most of coastal British Columbia. ... The Juneau Icefield or Juneau Icecap is an ice field located just north of Juneau, Alaska and continues north through the border with British Columbia and the fifth-largest ice field in the Western Hemisphere[1]. View of the Juneau Icefield. ...

The glacier, which converges with the Taku River at Taku Inlet, has a history of advancing until it blocks the river, creating a lake, followed by a dramatic break of the ice dam. The most recent of these advances occurred in 1750. The glacier has advanced 7.5 kilometers since 1890, and is 1.5 kilometers from Taku Point. It is the only advancing glacier of the 20 major glaciers of the Juneau Icefield^[1]. If the advance continues it would block the river again—this may happen again-but at the moment is unlikely. Since 1946, the glacier has been observed annually by the Juneau Icefield Research Program, which has documented its rate of advance since 1988 at 17 meters a year. The advance is due to a positive mass balance; that is, more snow accumulation than snow and ice melt. Until 1948 the glacier had a calving front; since then the terminus has been grounded The Taku River is a river in British Columbia and Alaska. ... An ice dam is a geological phenomenon. ... Global glacial mass balance in the last fifty years, reported to the WGMS and NSIDC. The downward trend in the late 1980s is symptomatic of the increased rate and number of retreating glaciers. ... A glacial terminus Satellite view of changing glacier termini in the Bhutan-Himalaya. ...

Due to the positive mass balance and the fact that it was no longer losing mass to icebergs, Taku Glacier has become insensitive to the warming that has impacted all other glaciers of the icefield. This has driven its advance. The recent negative mass balance 1989-2005 is not large enough to stop the advance yet, but is the first sign that the glacier's advance may not make it to Taku Point. An iceberg (a partial loan translation, probably from Dutch ijsberg (literally: mountain of ice),[1] cognate to German Eisberg) is a large piece of ice that has broken off from a snow-formed glacier or ice shelf and is floating in open water. ...

View across the Taku Glacier.

Taku Glacier is the namesake of the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry M/V Taku. Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixel Image in higher resolution (2592 × 1728 pixel, file size: 587 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Taku Glacier Metadata... Image File history File linksMetadata Size of this preview: 800 × 533 pixel Image in higher resolution (2592 × 1728 pixel, file size: 587 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) File links The following pages on the English Wikipedia link to this file (pages on other projects are not listed): Taku Glacier Metadata... The Alaska Marine Highway System is the state-run Alaskan ferry system that has been operating year-round since 1963. ... The M/V Taku is a mainline vessel for the Alaska Marine Highway System. ...

See also

• List of glaciers

This is a list of glaciers: Adams Glacier Vatnajokull Iceland Agassiz Icecap - Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada Aletsch Glacier - Swiss Alps, largest in Alps Angel Glacier - Cavell Meadows, Jasper National Park, Canada Antarctica -Continental glacier Athabasca Glacier - Canadian Rockies Aurora Glacier - Glacier Bay, Alaska Austfonna - Nordaustlandet, Svalbard Barnard Glacier - Alaska Beardmore...

References

1. ^ Nichols College: "Terminus behavior of Juneau Icefield glaciers, 1948-2005.

Nichols College is a career college that is located in Dudley, Massachusetts. ...

External links

• Terminus Behvaior of Juneau Icefield Glaciers 1948-2005
• Mass balance of the Taku Glacier 1946-2005
• Juneau Icefield Research Program
• USGS overview
• Pictures from the Juneau Icefield, including some from the Taku Glacier