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Malaspina Glacier

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: North American Geography

   The Malaspina Glacier is so large that it can only seen in its entirety
   from space; this 1994 photo from STS-66, on a rare clear day, is of an
   area about 100 km (60 miles) across.
   Enlarge
   The Malaspina Glacier is so large that it can only seen in its entirety
   from space; this 1994 photo from STS-66, on a rare clear day, is of an
   area about 100 km (60 miles) across.

   The Malaspina Glacier in southeastern Alaska is the largest piedmont
   glacier this far south in North America. It is about 65 km (40 mi) wide
   and 45 km (28 mi) long, with an area of some 3,900 km² (1,500 sq mi).
   It is named after the Spanish explorer Alessandro Malaspina, who
   visited the region in 1791.

   It forms where several valley glaciers, primarily the Seward Glacier
   and Agassiz Glacier, spill out from the Saint Elias Mountains onto the
   coastal plain facing the Gulf of Alaska between Icy Bay and Yakutat
   Bay. Although it fills the plain, nowhere does it actually reach the
   water and so does not qualify as a tidewater glacier.

   The Malaspina is up to 600 meters thick in places, with a bottom
   estimated at up to 300 meters below sea level. There are two lakes on
   the margin of the glacier; Oily Lake at the foot of the Samovar Hills
   between the Agassiz and Seward glaciers, and Malaspina Lake at the
   southeast margin, close to Yakutat Bay.

   Study of radar data and aerial photographs dating back to 1972 shows
   that the Malaspina-Seward system lost about 20 m (60 ft) of its
   thickness between 1980 and 2000; because the glacier is so large, that
   was sufficient to contribute 1/2 of one percent of the rise in the
   global sea level.

   The glacier is protected within the boundaries of the Wrangell-St.
   Elias National Park and Preserve.

   In October of 1969, the glacier became a National Natural Landmark.

   The glacier is the namesake of the Alaska Marine Highway vessel the M/V
   Malaspina.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaspina_Glacier"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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