New Year Greetings 2005 « Arun Shanbhag

Feeds:: Posts; Comments

New Year Greetings 2005

December 31, 2004 by Arun Shanbhag

Wishing Everyone
A Happy and Fun-filled New Year!

M&A

Walking on the Athabasca glacier, with the A-A cirque glacier in the background, was the high point of our Canada trip in October. The Columbia Icefield is the largest (200 sq Km) of the upland snow fields high up in the mountains. The Athabasca glacier is one of several glaciers which “flow” off the Columbia Icefield at about 15-20 m/year.

Tourists gathered in front of the SnoCoaches on the glacier. The winds race from atop the Icefield (behind me), bringing snow and gusty, bitterly cold winds. Because of the winds, M and I are hanging onto each other tightly, in the greeting card pic. Notice how tiny the people look in front of the SnoCoach.

We were only allowed to walk on a 'groomed' part of the glacier. The normal glacier surface is very 'turbulent' due to tumbling of the ice-chunks as this frozen river flows downstream. The trapped air and meandering light give it an iridescent blue glow. After numerous attempts, a brief glimmer of sun and a very low angle of the pic permitted me to capture this color.

For a sense of the size of this glacier note the humongous tour buses parked in front of the glacier’s toe and appear as little specks. The glacier is receding; about a century ago the toe was at the edge of the road. What part of global warming don’t people understand? Our SnoCoach had traversed just beyond the horizon on this glacier where the ice is believed to be more than 100 meters thick.

The access road along the lateral moraine. The trees though tiny (about 2-3 feet tall) are about 50 years old. Thats because of the ultra-short growing season (2-3 weeks/year) the bitterly cold winds and snow even in the middle of summer. This is also technically in the tree-less alpine region. Notice how the trees appear to be drawn along the road. I think the minimal – but significant – heat from the tour buses is sufficient to give a boost to the surrounding trees. Another sign of global warming!