6/2/13 College Fjord
In 1899 when millionaire railroad tycoon Edward Henry Harriman set sail on an ambitious expedition to Alaska on which he would chart, and name many Alaskan glaciers.
On May 31, 1899, 126 passengers and crew — 23 of them esteemed scientists — boarded the well-appointed George W. Elder for a highly publicized, excitement-filled departure.
On June 26, 1899, the Elder navigated College Fjord, and the party of scientists (which included John Muir, an Amherst College professor and glacier expert, and Harvard mineralogy instructor Charles Palache) named the glaciers after their Ivy League alma maters and their sister schools.
Harvard Glacier is the largest of the College Fjord glaciers, and is the second-largest tidewater glacier in Prince William Sound.
A tidewater glacier flows from a mountain valley into the sea and will dramatically calve when a mass of ice splits off the glacier and plunges thunderously into the water. The most active tidewater glaciers in the world are in Prince William Sound. Harvard Glacier may also be the most dramatic to observe: Its face, at one-and-a-half miles wide, shows off its over-200-foot-thick depth, and it stretches 24 miles back to the Chugach Icefield.
Upon entering College Fjord, you can see five glaciers in a row on your left. They are Wellesley, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Smith and then Harvard. College Fjord branches into Harvard Arm and the Yale Arm. The Harvard Arm continues straight from College Fjord and that is where you see Harvard Glacier. The Yale Arm is slightly right where the Yale Glacier can be seen.
It was a very overcast day which makes the pictures look monochromatic although they are in color. The glaciers all had their bright blue.
Read MoreOn May 31, 1899, 126 passengers and crew — 23 of them esteemed scientists — boarded the well-appointed George W. Elder for a highly publicized, excitement-filled departure.
On June 26, 1899, the Elder navigated College Fjord, and the party of scientists (which included John Muir, an Amherst College professor and glacier expert, and Harvard mineralogy instructor Charles Palache) named the glaciers after their Ivy League alma maters and their sister schools.
Harvard Glacier is the largest of the College Fjord glaciers, and is the second-largest tidewater glacier in Prince William Sound.
A tidewater glacier flows from a mountain valley into the sea and will dramatically calve when a mass of ice splits off the glacier and plunges thunderously into the water. The most active tidewater glaciers in the world are in Prince William Sound. Harvard Glacier may also be the most dramatic to observe: Its face, at one-and-a-half miles wide, shows off its over-200-foot-thick depth, and it stretches 24 miles back to the Chugach Icefield.
Upon entering College Fjord, you can see five glaciers in a row on your left. They are Wellesley, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Smith and then Harvard. College Fjord branches into Harvard Arm and the Yale Arm. The Harvard Arm continues straight from College Fjord and that is where you see Harvard Glacier. The Yale Arm is slightly right where the Yale Glacier can be seen.
It was a very overcast day which makes the pictures look monochromatic although they are in color. The glaciers all had their bright blue.
College Fjord
College Fjord
College Fjord
College Fjord
Left to right you can see four of the five glaciers; Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Smith and then Harvard and a tip of Yale Glacier, down the Yale Arm of the College Fjord
College Fjord
College Fjord
College Fjord
College Fjord
College Fjord
Here you can see four of the five glaciers in, left to right, Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Smith and then Harvard
Harvard Glacier is on the left and Yale Glacier on the right
Harvard Glacier
Yale Glacier
Leaving College Fjord
In this video you can see four of the five glaciers in a row on your left; Vassar, Bryn Mawr, Smith and then Harvard with Yale Glacier, down the Yale Arm of the College Fjord, at the end.