Blue Glacier is a large

glacier A glacier (; or ) is a persistent body of dense ice, a form of rock, that is constantly moving downhill under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires ...

located to the north of

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (, , ) is an extensive massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, between the regional units of Larissa (regional unit), Larissa and Pieria (regional ...

in the

Olympic Mountains The Olympic Mountains are a mountain range on the Olympic Peninsula of the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The mountains, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges, are not especially high – Mount Olympus (Washington), Mount Olympus is the high ...

Washington Washington most commonly refers to: * George Washington (1732–1799), the first president of the United States * Washington (state), a state in the Pacific Northwest of the United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A ...

. The glacier covers an area of and contains of ice and snow in spite of its low terminus elevation. The glacier length has decreased from about in 1800 to in the year 2000. Just in the period from 1995 and 2006, Blue Glacier retreated . Blue Glacier is also thinning as it retreats and between 1987 and 2009 the glacier lost of its depth near its terminus and between in the uppermost sections of the glacier known as the

accumulation zone On a glacier, the accumulation zone is the area above the firn line, where snowfall accumulates and exceeds the losses from ablation, ( melting, evaporation, and sublimation). The annual equilibrium line separates the accumulation and ablation ...

Description

Starting at an elevation of near Mount Olympus's three summits, the Blue Glacier begins as a snow/ice field separated by

arête An arête ( ; ) is a narrow ridge of rock that separates two valleys. It is typically formed when two glaciers erode parallel U-shaped valleys. Arêtes can also form when two glacial cirques erode headwards towards one another, although frequ ...

Google Earth Google Earth is a web mapping, web and computer program created by Google that renders a 3D computer graphics, 3D representation of Earth based primarily on satellite imagery. The program maps the Earth by superimposition, superimposing satelli ...

elevation for

GNIS The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the associated states of the Marshal ...

coordinates. As the glacier flows north, it cascades down a steep slope and thus, the smooth ice turns into a chaotic

icefall An icefall is a portion of certain glaciers characterized by relatively rapid flow and chaotic crevassed surface, caused in part by gravity. The term ''icefall'' is formed by analogy with the word ''waterfall'', which is a similar phenomenon of ...

, replete with

serac A serac () (from Swiss French ''sérac'') is a block or column of glacial ice, often formed by intersecting crevasses on a glacier. Commonly house-sized or larger, they are dangerous to mountaineers, since they may topple with little warning. ...

s and

crevasses A crevasse is a deep crack that forms in a glacier or ice sheet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pieces above a plastic substrate have different rate ...

. After the ice passes the icefall, the glacier ends up in a valley and takes a left turn to the west. Another

ice stream An ice stream is a region of fast-moving ice within an ice sheet. It is a type of glacier, a body of ice that moves under its own weight. They can move upwards of a year, and can be up to in width, and hundreds of kilometers in length. They t ...

from a snowdome located to the northwest of Mount Olympus joins the Blue Glacier and together, the joined ice streams flow down to a cliff at . On this steep, barren, rocky slope, the Blue Glacier terminates after dropping over in only . The rocky cliff used to host a second icefall before the terminus of Blue Glacier retreated up the cliff. A weather station operated from 1957 to 1963 at an elevation of 6910 ft near the glacier recorded rain and snowfall events, and average temperatures. However, the temperature record is irregular and contains mostly summer months. Nevertheless, at least one snow event occurred in all twelve months during the six years the station was operated.

Hydrology

Due to

orographic lift Orographic lift occurs when an air mass is forced from a low elevation to a higher elevation as it moves over rising terrain. As the air mass gains altitude it quickly cools down adiabatically, which can raise the relative humidity to 100% and cr ...

and the glacier's proximity to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

, more precipitation falls on the Blue Glacier than any other glacier in the lower 48 United States. About of precipitation falls on the upper reaches of Mount Olympus and Blue Glacier each year. During winter, most of the precipitation on Blue Glacier consists of snow. In addition, a significant amount of rain falls on the Blue Glacier as well, especially during spring and summer. Because of this high precipitation and the volume of this body of ice, the Blue Glacier contributes a significant amount of water to the

Hoh River The Hoh River is a river of the Pacific Northwest, located on the Olympic Peninsula in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington. About long, the Hoh River originates at the snout of Hoh Glacier on Mount Olympus (Washington), Mount Olym ...

via Glacier Creek.Olympic National Park map, 2007 The Hoh River eventually discharges in the Pacific Ocean after flowing down through

temperate rain forest Temperate rainforests are rainforests with coniferous or broadleaf forests that occur in the temperate zone and receive heavy rain. Temperate rainforests occur in oceanic moist regions around the world: the Pacific temperate rainforests of Nor ...

Olympic National Park Olympic National Park is a national park of the United States located in Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. The park has four regions: the Pacific coastline, alpine areas, the west-side temperate rainforest, and the forests of the drier e ...

References

{{Authority control Glaciers of the Olympic Mountains Glaciers of Jefferson County, Washington Glaciers of Washington (state)

Description

Hydrology

See also

References