THE GEOGRAPHIC SOCIETY'S ALASKAN EXPEDITION 



Scaie : 



SOO MIL.£S 



THE PACIFIC COAST OF THE GULF OF ALASKA 



Showing the location of Yakutat Bay, eastern Prince William Sound, and the lower Cop- 

 per River region, where the National Geographic Society's Research Expedition spent the 

 summer of 1909 in glacier study. 



although in the latitude of Hudson Strait 

 the loft}' mountains, rising from the 

 coast in the path of the prevailing west- 

 erly winds, cause heavy precipitation — 81 

 to 190 inches annually — a large percent- 

 age of which falls on the mountains in 

 the form of snow. Great excess of snow 

 accumulation over melting has resulted 

 in the formation of large valley glaciers, 

 which descend from all the mountains, 

 uniting to form the piedmont Malaspina 

 and Bering glaciers and many intermedi- 

 ate piedmont bulbs. 



THE LARGEST GLACIERS OUTSIDE THE 

 POLAR REGIONS 



The dimensions of the ice masses pres- 

 ent is commensurate with the heavy 

 snowfall and the northern latitude, many 

 of the valley glaciers being of exceptional 

 size. The Hubbard glacier* in Yakutat 

 Bay, for example, has a total known 

 length of 28 miles, only the lower por- 



* Named after Gardiner Greene Hubbard, 

 first President of the National Geographic So- 

 ciety, by Prof. Israel C. Russell, who discovered 

 the glacier in 1890 while leading the National 

 Geographic Society Expedition to Alaska of 

 that vear. 



tion being explored. It reaches the sea 

 and discharges icebergs from a tidal clifif 

 nearly five miles long and 250 to 300 feet 

 high. Upon its lower surface three of 

 the largest and best known Swiss gla- 

 ciers — the xA.letsch, Rhone, and Mer de 

 Glace — might be superposed without 

 covering the whole width of the glacier, 

 as shown in the figure (see page 5). 



The front of this glacier is so high 

 that a man's figure looks puny against it, 

 and, indeed, a lofty modern office build- 

 ing, such as the Masonic Temple, in 

 Chicago, might stand beside it and the 

 roof would barely overtop the ice cliff, 

 which also extends deep beneath the 

 waters of the fiord. The Times building, 

 in New York city, approximately equal 

 in height to the Hubbard or Turner gla- 

 cier front, is dwarfed by the giant moun- 

 tains whose 8.000-foot peaks tower in 

 the background. 



The whole city of Washington, laid out 

 upon the surface of Columbia glacier, 

 gives a specific conception of the magni- 

 tude of these ice masses. One who has 

 walked from the Capitol to the White 

 House, or from the Navy Yard to the 



