THE VARIATION OF GLACIERS 287 



cing. Stations have been fixed for the future study of a number of 

 glaciers, and many new glaciers not heretofore known have been 

 discovered. 



Nova Zembla. — Colonel Wilkizky has discovered a number of 

 large glaciers on the eastern side of the northern island, which 

 reach the sea and form icebergs. 



REPORT ON THE GLACIERS OF THE UNITED STATES FOR Ig02.^ 



The ice shaken from Muir glacier by the earthquake in Sep- 

 tember, 1899, still prevents steamers from approaching the glacier. 

 Last summer one of the steamers succeeded in going to within 

 four miles of the glacier, and the captain reports that a new 

 face can now be seen over the floating ice. From his descrip- 

 tions and the sketch he made it appears that the new face is 

 about a mile and a half back of its former position ; and the 

 nunatak bounding Morse glacier on the north is now washed by 

 the inlet {^Davidso?i) . It is probable also that Dirt glacier has 

 been separated from Muir. 



Explorations in the Copper river basin lead to the conclusion 

 that the maximum glaciation of this region was far more exten- 

 sive than has hitherto been recognized. It seems that the 

 Wrangell and the Alaskan mountains were the centers of a great 

 ice-sheet which flowed southward well up into the Chugach 

 mountains ; and that the latter range also supported a contin- 

 uous sheet of ice on the southern flanks^ i^Schrader and Spencer\. 



According to Indian tradition. Miles and Childs glaciers, 

 which lie on opposite sides of the Copper river, were formerly 

 united, and the river flowed under them. Between 1894 and 

 1898 the southern side of Miles glacier retreated five or six 

 miles, and the Childs glacier five or six hundred yards. Between 

 1894 and 1902 Valdez glacier and Shoup glacier, near by, 

 retreated about a mile; the latter was at the water's edge in 

 18843 {A bercrombie ) . 



'A synopsis of this report will appear in the Eighth Annual Report of the Inter- 

 national Committee. The report on the glaciers of the United States for 1900 was 

 given in this Journal, Vol. X, pp. 316,317. 



^"The Copper River District, Alaska," Twenty-second An7i. Rept. U.S. Geol.Surv. 

 A map accompanies the report and shows the location of many large glaciers, but no 

 information is given regarding their present variations. 



3 The Copper River Exploring Expedition, 1899. 



