Above and Beyond: Bering Glacier

Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach in collaboration with the NASA Earth Observatory.

All images, illustrations, and videos courtesy of NASA except:

 

except:

·       Photo of Tasman Lake in New Zealand courtesy of Wikimedia user Avenue

·       Sea creature illustration copyright The National Library of Israel, Shapell Family Digitization Project _and The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Geography – Historic Cities Research Project

·       Athabasca Glacier photo courtesy of Lucy Albert

·       Snowflake photos by Wilson A. Bentley

·       Electron-microscope image of a snowflake from the Electron Microscopy Unit, _Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, U.S. Department of Agriculture

·       Photo of snow-covered field courtesy of Emmanuel Boutet

·       Photo of melt pools from the collection of Dr. Pablo Clemente-Colon, Chief Scientist, National Ice Center

·       Photo of snow crystals courtesy of Alex Bakharev

·       Photo of ice crystals courtesy of Petr Dlouhý

·       Photo of Mt. Kilimanjaro’s southern ice field courtesy of Wikimedia user Chris 73 / Wikipedia Commons

·       Larsen B Ice Shelf images courtesy of Ted Scambos, National Snow and Ice Data Center, _University of Colorado, Boulder, based on data from MODIS

·       Statue of Liberty illustration courtesy of ClipArts101.com

·       Photo of boat in front of Eqip Sermia Glacier courtesy of Michele Koppes, University of British Columbia

·       Bear Glacier IKONOS image courtesy of DigitalGlobe

 

Music courtesy of Associated Production Music

Written by Andrea Gianopoulos

Designed by Marc Lussier

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Text, Bering Glacier, Alaska. Bering Glacier is the largest glacier in North America.

 

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It is fed by the Bagley Icefield and terminates in Vitus Lake.

 

Higher temperatures and changes in precipitation over the past century have caused the glacier to retreat.

 

One result of the loss of glacial ice is an increase in the number of earthquakes in the region.

 

Earthquakes here occur as two tectonic plates collide, thrusting Earth's crust upward informing mountains.

 

However, the weight of glacial ice makes it harder for the crust to move.

 

As the glacier melts, that pressure is lessened.

 

The crust moves more freely, and earthquakes increase.