Maps of Glacier Recession, Muir Inlet
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Types of Glaciers | These
maps, both compiled by Bill Fields, show retreat of the Muir Glacier from 1880
until the 1980s. The record has subsequently been extended by satellite measurements.
Even though the Muir has been shrinking for over 200 years, it is not a good indication that
the Earth's climate is warming. A tidewater glacier, it's rate of growth or recession is
determined by the calving of icerbergs at the terminus. A nearby tidewater glacier, the
Great Pacific, has been growing rapidly.
(Top map from the American Geographic Society Collection archived at the National Snow and Ice Data Center, University of Colorado at Boulder. Bottom map Hall et. al., 1995) |