The Shublik Mountains run parallel to Alaska’s Arctic Coast, with rocky hills giving way to North Slope tundra. The stark landscape is covered in talus and boulder fields with occasional willows. But, tucked between the slopes is a glacier, which is the northernmost in the United States.
“Here in 2022 when it feels like everyone has been discovered, there is a glacier that doesn’t appear anywhere,” stated Zachary Sheldon who owns Alaska Guide Co., based in Valdez. He was first to recognize that the glacier hadn’t been recorded on a map. He said, “I’m a bit obsessed with glaciers so it excites my.”
The glacier can be found at 69.50912, 145.51683, and is approximately 30 miles from the coast. It’s also 10 miles north of Brooks Range. A USGS publication states that Alaskan glaciers have not been located north of Brooks Range.
Louis Sass, U.S. Geological Survey glaciologist, stated that “it is the northernmost glacier of the U.S.” It is not registered or recorded.
Matthew Sturm, a geophysics professor at the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute, and leader of the Snow-Ice-Permafrost Group, stated that the glacier covers approximately 1/10 of an acre, or 50 to 60 acres. The glacier’s small size means it is highly vulnerable to disappearing.
Sturm stated that the climate change is causing the disappearance of small glaciers around the globe. “And here’s a little glacier up north. They forgot to count this little guy when they were counting the children in the classroom.
It’s nice to know that it hasn’t gone away.
Discovery
Sheldon first discovered the Dictionary of Alaska Place Names 15 years ago when he moved to Alaska. It lists the features of Alaska’s landscape. Sheldon began putting all locations in the book into a digital database 13 years ago to catalog Alaska’s geography. The same database is being maintained by Sheldon, a 40-year-old wilderness guide. He also created a map that shows the names and ratings of ice climbs. Other details are useful for outdoor enthusiasts who need to quickly gain a feel of the area.
Sheldon was last month tracing the outline of glaciers to create a precise glacier layer on his map. He was looking at satellite images and the glacier database from far away. He would then take a closer look and find the north glacier.
Sheldon reviewed the GLIMSglacier Database or the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space but did not find any record of the glacier.
Sheldon stated, “This glacier does not exist anywhere. Which is what caught my attention.”
In the early 2000s, the Randolph Glacier Inventory was updated with glaciers from this area of the Shublik Mountains. This global database contains outlines of glaciers, according to Sass of USGS. This process was based on very coarse satellite imagery. Small features of the glacier size found by Sheldon were only 15 by 30 pixels.
Sass stated that it is impossible to verify the accuracy or completeness of the inventory manually. This means that the inventory may not contain hundreds, or even thousands, of glaciers. It could also include features that aren’t glaciers, or are not glaciers.
Sass stated that an effort is being made to improve the global glacier database using higher-resolution satellite imagery. It is impossible to add one outline to existing inventories due to such a large volume of data.
“We know it’s glacier”
The glacier, which is located so far north, is likely to be covered in snow for most of the year. It could have been easy, Sheldon stated, to mistake it with a snowfield. The satellite image shows the glacial features clearly.
According to Sturm, Geophysical Institute, the main difference between a snowfield and a glacier is that a snowfield is porous and remains in place.
He said, “The snowfield does not move.” It changes in size from year to year but there is no internal flow. Glaciers are flowing.
Sturm stated that a satellite image taken in late summer shows lines in the ice glacier. This is indicative of flow.
Sturm stated that the metamorphism of the glacier creates foliation similar to pages in a book. You can walk up that thing on rock, but then you’d walk on glacier-ice. Once you reach the seedy top, it would be snow.
The mountains shade most of the glacier, slowing down the melting. The glacier’s tongue is also covered in debris, which can help protect it from melting.
The U.S.’s northernmost glacier
Sheldon finds the discovery of a glacier even more thrilling because it is so far north. Sheldon stated that glaciers can be found at higher latitudes, such as Greenland and Canada. However, northern formations are often surrounded by water, which helps them to get new snow.
Sturm stated that, in addition to the availability of water sources and storm tracks that are better than others, it is also important for glaciers to be nurtured by storm tracks.
Sturm stated that “This is an intriguing glacier because it’s not high or in a location where there’s lots of snow.”
Sass stated that the Brooks Range glaciers and those north of it are very different to the glaciers further south in Alaska. They don’t get much precipitation in winter but can be quite wet in summer. Sass stated that the Shublik and Saddlerochit ranges are further north and receive slightly more precipitation than those farther east.
He said that the Brooks Range’s north slope can become very wet in the summer when the sea ice has melted. The key to glacier existence is whether late-summer precipitation falls as snow, or rain. This is mostly determined by the elevation. This particular feature is located at 4,500 feet. However, it is sufficient when you live that far north.
Sheldon then added the glacier onto his map. He also labeled it “Northernmost.” However, he felt a sense urgency to do more. For example, to photograph the glacier and to take a core from it to date it.
Sheldon stated, “Glaciers. 99% of them don’t grow.” Its time is short.”
The Anchorage Daily News originally published this story. It is republished with permission.
