LeConte Glacier

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(Edited)

There is a sublime sense of beauty pushing ones way through an icefield in a small aluminum boat. The feeling of wonder is juxtaposed with the disconcerting clunking noise of the ice continually hitting the hull. The LeConte Glacier flows at 25m (82ft) per day and produces dangerous "shooter" icebergs which calve off deep underwater and shoot out of the water without warning as far out as 300m (1000 feet) from the glacier's face.

This was shot on a previous watery adventure sailing in Alaska where it is quite a lot colder then out current lock down situation in the Caribbean (which you can read about in my previous post here). The depth of ice at the terminus is between 200-250m (650-810 ft) with an additional 40-60m (130-195ft) of ice protruding above the surface. The Northern Hemisphere's southernmost tidewater glacier, it was discovered and named in 1887 after the biologist Joseph LeConte. Since then the calving face has retreated 4km (2.5 miles).

The glacier resides in a 12 mile-long fjord at the head of LeConte Bay about 20 miles North West of the mouth of the Stikine River. South East Alaska. USA

LeConteGlacier.jpg

If you would like to learn a little bit more about my background in photography you can read the interview @photofeed did with me here.

Robert Downie
Love Life, Love Photography

All images in this post were taken by and remain the Copyright of Robert Downie - http://www.robertdowniephotography.com



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9 comments
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Giant chunks of ice shooting up seemingly randomly from the depths sounds like it would be somewhat hazardous (and also kind of interesting and exciting).

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