Glacier Bay National Park, Southeast Alaska
Every dreamer knows it is entirely possible to be homesick for a place you have never been to, perhaps more homesick than for familiar ground.
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve protects the glacial environment, wildlife and plant communities for future generations. In 1986 the park was named a Biosphere Reserve, and in 1992 it was listed as a World Heritage Site. This dual status shows that the international community values the uniqueness of this dynamic glacial landscape, a major ecosystem that protects the diversity of life.
On this watery planet you can find water without life, but nowhere do you find life without water. Think about water. It makes up the majority of our bodies. It covers most of the planet. Glaciers and polar ice store more water than lakes and rivers, groundwater, and the atmosphere combined. Ten percent of our world is under ice today. Water is essential for all life.
To visit Glacier Bay is to contemplate water in its many forms. Mist caresses the mountains of the Fairweather Range dropping snow at high altitudes which condenses into an ice field. Gravity takes over and the ice field begins its epic journey to the sea, a process that may take this frozen river hundreds of years. The misty vapor has transformed into solid glacial ice.
Upon reaching the sea, solid ice is calved from glacier faces, where today we observed expectant harbor seal mothers hauled out on the floating ice, with bald eagles perched nearby eagerly awaiting to clean up after birth. In time these bergy bits will melt, returning solid to liquid, completing the water cycle.
Today, surrounded by water in all of its forms, we glimpsed the magic and necessity of water on our planet. Perhaps this moment of rejuvenation and spiritual wonder will help us all to think differently about water.
Every dreamer knows it is entirely possible to be homesick for a place you have never been to, perhaps more homesick than for familiar ground.
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve protects the glacial environment, wildlife and plant communities for future generations. In 1986 the park was named a Biosphere Reserve, and in 1992 it was listed as a World Heritage Site. This dual status shows that the international community values the uniqueness of this dynamic glacial landscape, a major ecosystem that protects the diversity of life.
On this watery planet you can find water without life, but nowhere do you find life without water. Think about water. It makes up the majority of our bodies. It covers most of the planet. Glaciers and polar ice store more water than lakes and rivers, groundwater, and the atmosphere combined. Ten percent of our world is under ice today. Water is essential for all life.
To visit Glacier Bay is to contemplate water in its many forms. Mist caresses the mountains of the Fairweather Range dropping snow at high altitudes which condenses into an ice field. Gravity takes over and the ice field begins its epic journey to the sea, a process that may take this frozen river hundreds of years. The misty vapor has transformed into solid glacial ice.
Upon reaching the sea, solid ice is calved from glacier faces, where today we observed expectant harbor seal mothers hauled out on the floating ice, with bald eagles perched nearby eagerly awaiting to clean up after birth. In time these bergy bits will melt, returning solid to liquid, completing the water cycle.
Today, surrounded by water in all of its forms, we glimpsed the magic and necessity of water on our planet. Perhaps this moment of rejuvenation and spiritual wonder will help us all to think differently about water.
