Seven Ways to Explore Alaska’s Endangered Glacial World

The frozen world is so essential to life on Earth that glaciers are often considered “canaries in the coal mine.” When these layers of dense ice and snow that have built up over centuries begin to melt, the entire global ecosystem is in trouble.

A quarter of the way through the 21st century, the world’s glaciers haven’t just begun to melt—they’re retreating at alarming rates. The loss is especially profound in the Arctic, where the climate is warming four times faster than the global average, according to Joanna Young, a glaciologist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Sea-level rise, coastal erosion, unstable ecosystems and changing ocean currents are among the consequences researchers are already tracking.

“It seems like every single week we are learning a new way that glacier shrinkage is impacting local and global ecosystems,” says Young. “There are really dramatic changes happening very quickly and accelerating over the decades. In some areas there are glaciers that have thinned [164 feet]: That’s a 12-story building worth of loss in just 20 years.”

In Alaska, the state with the highest concentration of glaciers in the United States, small masses of ice are already disappearing, says Young. By 2100, “nearly all” of Alaska’s glaciers will be gone if the world continues on its current warming trajectory, according to a recent study.

For now, though, thousands of glaciers in Alaska still remain accessible to visitors, if not close up, then from a distance by helicopter or boat. In most cases, no previous experience is needed to paddle through lagoons mottled with turquoise-tinted ice or to hike across unmarred fields of snow, but even those with limited physical strength can easily join a glacial dog sledding adventure or a day trip cruising up an ice-encrusted fjord.

It’s a “beautiful landscape, but the moment is fleeting,” says Young. At glaciers like Portage near Anchorage, the ice has already retreated so far that it can no longer be seen from tourist infrastructure built just a few decades ago. There is, quite literally, no time to waste to bear witness to Alaska’s endangered glacial world.

Here are seven…