Bear Glacier Lagoon A Bear Glacier, Alaska, USA story
Glaciers
Water
Before 1950, the entire basin was covered by Bear Glacier and ended at a terminal moraine. By 1961, a small lake had formed, referred to as Bear Glacier Lagoon. By 1984, the size of the lagoon had doubled. It has continued to grow quickly as the glacier has retreated over time. People can now go kayaking among the icebergs on Bear Glacier Lagoon.
In August 2014, water from Bear Glacier Lagoon breached the moraine that separates the lagoon from Resurrection Bay. Lake levels dropped by 1–2 feet (0.3–0.6 meters). These glacier lake outburst floods occur regularly. The breach is visible in the extreme close-up in the 2014 Landsat image, in which different infrared wavelengths were used to make the breach more visible.
Location
Aug. 2, 1950, U.S. Air Force Aerial photo — Bear Glacier Lagoon, Alaska, USA
Aug. 10, 1976, Landsat 2 (path/row 74/18) — Bear Glacier Lagoon, Alaska, USA
June 18, 1984, Landsat 5 (path/row 69/18) — Bear Glacier Lagoon, Alaska, USA
Sep. 27, 1994, Landsat 5 (path/row 68/18) — Bear Glacier Lagoon, Alaska, USA
July 1, 2000, Landsat 7 (path/row 68/18) — Bear Glacier Lagoon, Alaska, USA
Aug. 5, 2001, Landsat 7 (path/row 68/18) — Bear Glacier Lagoon, Alaska, USA
June 21, 2005, Landsat 5 (path/row 68/18) — Bear Glacier Lagoon, Alaska, USA
July 21, 2007, Landsat 7 (path/row 68/18) — Bear Glacier Lagoon, Alaska, USA
Sep. 15, 2010, Landsat 7 (path/row 68/18) — Bear Glacier Lagoon, Alaska, USA
Sep. 2, 2014, Landsat 8 (path/row 68/18) — Bear Glacier Lagoon, Alaska, USA
Sep. 4, 2018, Landsat 8 (path/row 69/18) — Bear Glacier Lagoon, Alaska, USA
Sept. 9, 2020, Landsat 8 (path/row 69/18) — Bear Glacier Lagoon, Alaska, USA
Sep. 2, 2014, Landsat 8 (path/row 68/18) — Bear Glacier Lagoon, close-up of moraine breach, Alaska, USA
Bear Glacier, Alaska, USA Additional Imagery & Stories
Glacial Retreat
A stable glacier advances a little in the winter and retreats the same amount in the summer. Bear Glacier likely did this and gradually built up a ter...
Glacier Repeat Photography
USGS uses repeat photography of glaciers to quantify changes in glaciers over time. Repeat photography is a technique in which a historical photograph...
Racing Stripes
Glaciers move slowly, but Bear Glacier seems to have racing stripes. Glaciers pick up dirt and debris from the rocks they pass. They deposit that mate...