Posted by Sean Watson on October 9, 2007 at 6:02 AM
Well, technically, it's falling water and it's frozen.
This is a 200' tall slice of the Johns Hopkins Glacier dropping into Johns Hopkins Inlet in Glacier Bay National Park. This is shot 6 of 19 in a sequence that stats with a little ice falling and ends with a splash half way up the glacier.
We're about a half mile from the face and those soon-to-be-surfers at the base are harbor seals. Orcas hunt by echo location and cracking ice makes lots of noise, so the harbor seals think risking a little ice falling on them is a fair deal.
D2x, 70-200@86mm, 1/200s, F/2.8
This is a pretty significant crop to show detail while staying within the posting guidelines. (Original was landscape.)
Sean
Posted by Erik Lundh on October 9, 2007 at 11:25 AM
Nice catch there Sean. If this keeps up, pretty soon the oceans will be 20 ft. higher.
Pretty cool. It's an amazing hunk of ice. Knowing those are seals add nice scale to it.
Posted by Sean Watson on October 10, 2007 at 6:20 AM
Eric,
Glaciers calve whether or not they're advancing, receding, or in equilibrium. The question is whether more falls/melts off now relative to how much snow fell as the point that's now the terminus flowed along the route. They really are rivers of ice and this really is where this river flows into the sea. Rivers that happen to be tidewater glaciers just have very dramatic mouths.
That's not to say climate change isn't concerning, just that this isn't necessarily a sign of it anymore than a shot of the mouth of the Columbia.
Ryan,
Yeah, this was a pretty amazing place. The seals were everywhere. I really want to get back there. (Next time, probably in a kayak so I can get more control of timing and position.)
Thanks for commenting.
Sean
Posted by Curtis Knight on October 10, 2007 at 10:15 AM
Discussion
4 repliesThis is a 200' tall slice of the Johns Hopkins Glacier dropping into Johns Hopkins Inlet in Glacier Bay National Park. This is shot 6 of 19 in a sequence that stats with a little ice falling and ends with a splash half way up the glacier.
We're about a half mile from the face and those soon-to-be-surfers at the base are harbor seals. Orcas hunt by echo location and cracking ice makes lots of noise, so the harbor seals think risking a little ice falling on them is a fair deal.
D2x, 70-200@86mm, 1/200s, F/2.8
This is a pretty significant crop to show detail while staying within the posting guidelines. (Original was landscape.)
Sean
Glaciers calve whether or not they're advancing, receding, or in equilibrium. The question is whether more falls/melts off now relative to how much snow fell as the point that's now the terminus flowed along the route. They really are rivers of ice and this really is where this river flows into the sea. Rivers that happen to be tidewater glaciers just have very dramatic mouths.
That's not to say climate change isn't concerning, just that this isn't necessarily a sign of it anymore than a shot of the mouth of the Columbia.
Ryan,
Yeah, this was a pretty amazing place. The seals were everywhere. I really want to get back there. (Next time, probably in a kayak so I can get more control of timing and position.)
Thanks for commenting.
Sean