Last Alaskan Tidewater Glacier On The Retreat

The Columbia Glacier is a bit of a Lynford Christie in glacier terms moving its 33-mile long bulk at a phenomenal rate of 34 meters a day - faster than most British trains right now and quicker than any other glacier. Unfortunately it’s heading towards oblivion at an even faster pace: since 1982 it’s retreated some 12 kilometers and thinned into the bargain.

Interestingly, the retreat isn’t directly attributable to global warming, but the action of wave and water action at the point where the glacier calves into the sea – it’s simply losing more chunks of ice than can be replaced by snow accumulation at the top end of the glacier.