I walk back to my car and take the two-lane road down the valley, burning more gas to add to the stock of carbon in the atmosphere. In Seward, Alaska, Exit Glacier is melting at an astonishing rate. Asked where the glacier would likely be when she grows up, 8-year-old Addisyn pointed far up the mountain. Researchers say 92% of glaciers near the Alps could be lost by 2100 because of climate change. The sedimentary loads in the creek and river structures have yet to settle, and thus the water channels change. © 2020 Anchorage Daily News. The swiftly melting glacier stands as a living monument to global warming. Exit, glacier. contact customer service "We perceive it as flooding because the road's there.". The swift retreat of Exit Glacier, in Alaskaâs Kenai Mountains, offers a clear sign of how climate change can affect a region in a very short time. (Exhibit A) - See 857 traveler reviews, 767 candid photos, and great deals for Kenai Fjords National Park, AK, at Tripadvisor. Science Monitor has expired. Your session to The Christian President Barack Obama visited Exit Glacier in 2015. Exit Glacier is only a small part of Kenai Fjords' ice and ice-influenced ecosystem that covers about half the 1,047-square-mile park. As he mounts his most aggressive campaign yet on climate change, Obama planned to trek up Alaskaâs famed Exit Glacier with photographers ⦠The path is paved as far as a small pavilion of rough-hewn stone pillars and a vaulted wooden roof. Exit Glacier, in Alaska's Kenai Fjords National Park Elizabeth Earl. Installed new interpretive exhibits, focusing on climate change, at the Exit Glacier Nature Center. A selection of the most viewed stories this week on the Monitor's website. There will be no more extensions, Kim said, because the toe of the glacier is now surrounded by steep and treacherous terrain. SINGAPORE/ANCHORAGE (Reuters) - The world has become far too hot for the aptly named Exit Glacier in Alaska. The adjective glacial no longer applies, it seems. Brexit talks resume before the December 31st deadlines. Upon the arrival of snow, usually in mid-November, the road to Exit Glacier is inaccessible to cars, due to a state road closure, but open to winter recreation, including snowmobiles, dogsleds, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and fat bikes. I write history and I have great admiration for human ingenuity," Capra says. The finger that descends may be pulling back but it also seems to reach down, here at the edge of Alaska, the last frontier. The park in previous years had built, moved and rebuilt bridges along the trail, but managers gave up that program as well, she said. A weekly digest of Monitor views and insightful commentary on major events. To walk the path to the lookout, then, is to tread a timeline of climate change, passing markers of the glacier’s historic extent. Exit Glacier Guides also offers trips onto the ice itself. As the climate warms, glaciers melt and recede, pulling back ⦠Photographed on July 17. The state spans a wide range of climatic and ecological conditions that include rainforests, glaciers, boreal forest, tundra, peatlands, and meadows. Since 2011, average October-to-May daily temperatures at the glacier's low elevations have been above freezing about half the time, the report noted. But it stands out for its location in an easily accessible national park, the in-your-face documentation of its retreat and its role as a real-time climate change laboratory. Portage Glacier, one of multitudes of glaciers in Chugach National Forest, remains a big tourist draw even though visitors now have to take a boat ride across Portage Lake to see its face. Alaska includes lands on both sides of the Arctic Circle, which makes the United States an Arctic nation. "I'm shocked it changed this much," said Julie, with her husband and two daughters at the trail summit. Columbia, a tour boat destination in Prince William Sound, is one of the world's best-studied glaciers; retreat has caused the terminus to split into two thinner branches. We Over the year ending Oct. 1, after fall measurements were taken, the retreat was 293 feet, according to the National Park Service. For Sofia Heinonen, visiting from Argentina's glaciated Patagonia region, Exit Glacier and the Park Service's management of it prove good lessons for her country. Good for the scientists. Now, disappearance of the ice has exposed those bits as mountains, she said. It’s my first glacier, and I’m not really feeling it. The group used the glacier to exit the icefield, and the name stuck. She works for the Conservation Land Trust and is helping the Argentine government â which is coping with some of the same climate issues that face Alaska â expand its own national park system. Working with the Natural Resources Conservation Service, a SNOTEL station has been set up at Exit Glacier. What happens then to the park infrastructure built for visitors to a glacier that is creeping out of view, year by year?”. (Marc Lester / Alaska Dispatch News), A pavilion along the path to Exit Glacier was once a place to view the glacier. The presence of oxygen isotopes with the atomic weight of 18 rather than the more common 16 in the otoliths is a marker of cold, he said. Already, there is some disappointment at the end of the Exit Glacier trail. Exit Glacier, a finger of cracked, blue-white ice that drops out of 700-square-mile Harding Icefield, some of it outside the park, is relatively small, only 14 square miles. Planning for new climate change interpretive panels for the Stone Kiosk at Exit Glacier is in the development stage. "It's striking to see the same process in the South and in the North.". Now climbers are instructed to carry out their waste, but past years' deposits, after being churned through the moving and melting ice, are now turning up at the end of Exit, she said. After five centuries of expansion during the period known as the Little Ice Age, Exit Glacier reached its maximum expanse around 1815. The shells' calcium counteracted the soil's acidity and the cod bones were perfectly preserved, down to the delicate rib bones, said Aron Crowell of the Smithsonian Institution, a co-author. unless you renew or Reconstructing the more distant past requires analysis of data from the region's geology and tree rings. Capra is a former park ranger and local historian in tiny Seward, Alaska⦠“How long before the tourists stop coming to Exit Glacier?” Simon asks. Yereth Rosen was a longtime reporter for Alaska Dispatch News. “That’s something we can clearly grasp. I’m thinking more about my son, age 6. Glacier National Park’s name will outlive its glaciers, Alaska’s climate frontier: Anchorage to cut carbon emissions by 80%. Like glaciers and ice caps around the world, the Exit has been retreating dramatically, helping to raise sea levels from Miami to Mumbai. Moving up to 300 feet in a single year, the glacier’s retreat is marked each decade. Eklutna Glacier, source of Anchorage's drinking water and one of several glaciers in relatively accessible Chugach State Park, is well-studied and losing mass. Many park visitors are worried that the glacier will retreat too far for them to see it easily, according to surveys done by researchers at the University of Utah. But where the road is concerned, "It turns out to be of secondary importance at Exit Glacier.". But its public stature is large. It has a family link to a pop star. Alaska is the largest state in the United States, accounting for about 20% of the total area of the United States and more than twice the land area of Texas. You don’t have a Christian Science Monitor Park visitors willing to make the arduous hike up to the base of Harding Icefield at about 3,500 feet in elevation can see evidence of melt at the mother of all Kenai Fjords glaciers. I’m hardly the first to make this journey and lament the lesson of Exit Glacier, of course. The swift retreat of Exit Glacier, in Alaska’s Kenai Mountains, offers a clear sign of how climate change can affect a region in a very short time. The five most recent Christian Science articles with a spiritual perspective. Obamaâs tour will continue on Tuesday with a hike to Exit Glacier, where he will observe the problem of melting ice brought on by rising temperatures in the region. The loss measured last summer, 252 feet, was the biggest in any single summer on record. This stunning short film by Raphael Rogers, Paul Rennick, and Kristin Gerhart examines the glacierâs dramatic impact through the voice of local guide Rick Brown. or call us at 1-617-450-2300. subscription yet. Partnered with Alaska Geographic and local tour boat company to sell a climate change response DVD at visitor centers Obama blames it ⦠It was visited by a U.S. president â Barack Obama, who spent part of his 2015 Alaska trip at the glacier's melting terminus. Reporter Simon Montlake was fully expecting to be disappointed by Exit Glacier, and he was not disappointed. The spring sun is out and I see it glance off the snowy mountains above the glacier. log out. One interpretative sign is titled Living Laboratory, a nod at the scientific value of studying glacier retreats. I’m serenaded by birds, and rushing spring melt. If you have questions about your account, please You're going to see the blue ice.'". The marker for 1917 is about a mile from the glacier’s current point. President Obama hiked to Exit Glacier in Alaska last week, with photographers in tow, to send the world a message: The glacier is melting. Curtain falls. It is unlikely that any kind of similar structure would be put in near the glacier's current terminus, she said: "If you build something that has a lot of infrastructure, at some point it's going to be out of date again.". For repeat visitors, the changes are stark, said Sharon Kim, chief of resources at Kenai Fjords. SEWARD, Alaska (AP) â President Barack Obama stared down a melting glacier in Alaska on Tuesday in a dramatic use of his presidential pulpit to sound the alarm on climate change. The more modern melt at Exit Glacier and nearby Paradise Glacier is adding to that condition, said co-author Mike Loso, a National Park Service glacier expert. I breathe the cool air. House lights go up. That's what I kept telling her: 'You're going to see the blue. “It is spectacular though,” he conceded, adding: “We want to make sure that our grandkids can see this.”. Exit Glacier⦠The sign is about a mile from the glacierâs edge now. It has a connection to the world's most famous sled dog race. When the National Park Service built it in 1987, it offered a sweeping view of the glacier. (Marc Lester / Alaska Dispatch News). Exit's rapid changes have forced the Park Service to make frequent adjustments along the trail system. Nearly 2 billion people depend on Himalayan glaciers. "They're phenomenal. The woman remembers visiting in the 1990s, when you could still walk onto the glacier. Then I make my exit. The oxygen molecules in the fish ear bones, or otoliths, carry a record of life history. A similar lake formation has occurred at retreating Bear Glacier, south of Exit. An unpleasant trend: Park workers monitoring the glacier's retreating edge from 2013 to 2016 retrieved bags of human feces, with contents in fairly fresh condition, said Deborah Kurtz, physical science program manager at Kenai Fjords. It matches the cloudy sky, and my mood. For years, he's documented Alaska's changing climate and Exit Glacier's retreat. One important trend detected: The glacier is now retreating in winter as well as in summer, a pattern that has been consistent since 2006, according to a park report that describes Exit's geologic history. In Seward, Alaska, Exit Glacier is melting at an astonishing rate. An update on major political events, candidates, and parties twice a week. The Short Film Showcase spotlights exceptional short videos created by filmmakers from around the web and selected by National Geographic editors. Will it work? It has starred on television and video, including an episode of NBC's "Running Wild with Bear Grylls" that focused on Obama's visit. There are flashes of blue, but from this distance it mostly resembles dirty shoveled snow on a sidewalk. This stunning short film examines the glacierâs dramatic impact through the voice of local guide Rick Brown. SEWARD â A finger of ice spilling out of the Chugach Mountains marks Alaska's rapidly warming climate â almost literally. The impacts of climate change are real, and the people of Alaska are living with them every day. Long-term changes are evident far downstream of the ice, an area getting new attention from scientists. This message will appear once per week Trump administration seeks to tie Biden’s hands. On a long curve I pull over to take a final photo. "I remember walking over here," Shippey said. The Christian Science Monitor has expired. The meandering, braided creek and river channels that run down from the end of the glacier to the Seward Highway â and along the corridor that holds the road â are typical of the unstable waterways left behind after a glacier retreats. How long before the tourists stop coming to Exit Glacier, I wonder. What happens then to the park infrastructure built for visitors to a glacier that is creeping out of view, year by year? was the biggest in any single summer on record, pioneering 1968 ski traverse across the Harding Icefield, honed his dog-sledding skills in the glacier's valley, retreat has caused the terminus to split into two thinner branches, are significant contributors to global sea-level rise, alculate changes in the past half century at Exit and elsewhere, the arduous hike up to the base of Harding Icefield, the most mass loss at the icefield's lowest elevations, increased torrents of freshwater dilute the saltwater and the calcium in it, floods that had regularly closed off traffic, Alaska House is split 20-20 and remains leaderless as Kodiak Republican sides with coalition, FBI questions Alaska lawmakers on topics including Permanent Fund dividend votes, 1 dead, 3 injured in Seward Highway collision between trucks on the Kenai Peninsula, Anchorage Assembly passes new pandemic relief package, calls on Congress for more assistance, Tribal land issues are a serious challenge facing Alaska. The colder the temperature, the more that heavier isotopes are present. Renee Shippey of Dallas, who visited Kenai Fjords in June and had been there in 2006 as well, was sorry that her granddaughter was unable to get the same close-up view of blue ice that was available 11 years ago. They're like little thermometers in the fish," he said. President Obama paid a visit to the 'spectacular' Exit Glacier in Seward, Alaska on Tuesday, calling the landmark a 'signpost' of climate change. He later raced in the bare-bones inaugural Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race (the historic Iditarod Trail started north of Seward); now his son and grandson are professional mushers and repeat Iditarod champions who dominate the event, which has become a sports extravaganza. This boom in âglacier tourismâ seems to be dually spurred, at least in part, by climate change⦠The Exit name comes from the pioneering 1968 ski traverse across the Harding Icefield by an expedition party that included Alaska homesteader Yule Kilcher, the grandfather of singer Jewel Kilcher. "We just can't continue to extend the trail any longer without it being really unsafe," she said. Photographed May 17 in Kenai Fjords National Park. Latest book reviews, author interviews, and reading trends. A pavilion built in 1987 to give visitors a place to rest in the shade was originally situated to provide a good view of the glacier; now the view is of alders that hem the structure after springing up in ground uncovered by the glacier's retreat. â -- President Obama heads north today to highlight the issue of climate change against the backdrop of receding glaciers in Alaska.. What if they melt. The marker for 1917 is about a mile from its current point. Now the glacier is retreating faster, much faster, in winter and summer. While glacial melt is swelling the volume in the creek and is making the area more watery in general, it turns out that the modern melt is likely not responsible for the sudden inundations that have forced road closures in recent years, a new study finds. Kim said. Seasons. I write history and I have great admiration for human ingenuity," Capra says. Exit Glacier: Shocking wake up call to climate change - See 849 traveler reviews, 763 candid photos, and great deals for Kenai Fjords National Park, AK, at Tripadvisor. For years, he's documented Alaska's changing climate and Exit Glacier's retreat. Climate change makes land more unstable and increases the risk of landslide-caused tsunamis. âMy concern is the denial. A post shared by The Obama White House (@obamawhitehouse) on Sep 1, 2015 at 5:43pm PDT One month free trial to the Monitor Daily. "Here, people just have to visit it again in a year or two.". It’s the largest icefield in the U.S., and the first documented crossing was made in 1968. "We came here for inspiration," she said. Land-terminating Alaska glaciers like Exit, though they make up only a tiny percentage of the world's ice, are significant contributors to global sea-level rise, and visitors to Kenai Fjords are able to see that process up close. Hear about special editorial projects, new product information, and upcoming events. Chemistry of the marine water is changing as well. Past results found the most mass loss at the icefield's lowest elevations; a new report on mass balance is pending. It's never been more important for us to work together to address this challenge. Six years,” she says. "It's spectacular," Obama said, casting a glance over his shoulder and pausing, as the cameras clicked. Some Kenai Fjords glaciers are losing even more ice. Markers throughout Exit Glacier show how much it's receded over time. The bones are from two sites, one about 200 years old and another about 100 years old, left by ancestors of today's Kenai Peninsula-area Sugpiaq people. I pass budding alder trees, then clamber up slate and gravel to reach a windswept vantage point. Anyone who has lived here a long time has seen the weather change," says Doug Capra. Isotope analysis for modern fish bones matched modern Gulf of Alaska temperature records, and the methodology will work for bones from past times prior to written temperature records, potentially as far back as 5,000 years ago, he said. continue to use the site without a (Marc Lester / Alaska Dispatch News), A visitor takes in the view of Exit Glacier in Kenai Fjords National Park on July 17. The approach to Exit Glacier, the most accessible of the 500 square miles of ancient ice covering Kenai Fjords National Park, is a timeline of retreat. Christian Science Monitor reporter Simon Montlake looks out on Exit Glacier on May 17 in Alaska's Kenai Fjords National Park. The ⦠To help both researchers and park managers understand the impact of weather and climate on the icefield, glaciers, and the connected ecosystems, several weather stations have been established. “The cruise-ship excursions, the Anchorage day-trippers, will they go elsewhere? Since then it has been retreating, slowly at first, roughly 3 feet a year, based on soil and tree-ring analysis. Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Tom and Julie Schulz, visiting from Minnesota, contrasted the current bare-ground conditions at the trail's summit with their snowy memories from a trip to the same spot in the mid-1990s. Last year alone, the Exit Glacier melted and retreated 187 feet (57 meters) toward the Harding ice field, which itself has lost 10 percent of its mass since 1950, mainly due to climate change. Pedersen Glacier lost an average of 65 feet a year from 1951 to 1986, but that rate jumped to 410 feet a year from 1994 to 2015, scientists report. Aerial photography and historic photographic records are also used to track the glacier's changes. SEWARD, Alaska â President Barack Obama turned Tuesday to a dramatic symptom of climate change â a melting Alaska glacier â to highlight the dangers of global warming. A marker shows how far Exit Glacier has receded since 2005. The Park Service has a mass-balance monitoring program that takes measurements each spring and fall to compare the icefield's annual snow accumulations with annual melts. A lake at the toe of the glacier that was tiny two decades ago is now substantial. The retreat began in the 1800s when Alaska was still Russian territory. A list of wildlife sightings listed at the entrance to trails leading to Exit Glacier on May 17 in Kenai Fjords National Park. Your subscription to ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- President Barack Obama is painting a doomsday scenario for the Arctic and beyond if climate change isn't dealt ⦠(Marc Lester / Alaska Dispatch News). It is one of the most accessible valley glaciers in Alaska and is a visible indicator of glacial recession due to climate change. A weekly update on music, movies, cultural trends, and education solutions. Scientists were fortunate to find the cod bones in mounds full of seashells. What does the public expect us to do, within a reasonable parameter?" Sept. 2, 2015 Read More A sign marks the location of Exit Glacierâs terminus 100 years ago along the trail to an overlook from the parking area. Exit Glacier: Climate Change is REAL, Y'all! The icefield has retreated over past decades but, more important, it has thinned, Kurtz said. (Yereth Rosen / Alaska Dispatch News), Hikers pause to take in a view of Exit Glacier from a spot a few miles into the Harding Icefield Trail. This is the edge of the Harding Icefield, which covers 300 square miles, not counting the 38 glaciers that descend from it. Much longer-term geologic processes are at work, the study concludes. subscription. Exit Glacier is a glacier derived from the Harding Icefield in the Kenai Mountains of Alaska and one of Kenai Fjords National Park's major attractions. "What we call flooding of that road is really the channels moving," said Janet Curran, a USGS hydrologist and lead author of the study. Explore the trails with Seward Wilderness Collective or Exit Glacier Guides. A new management plan for the park's front country â the Exit Glacier area â is in the works to address that. It used to be visible from the shore of the lake. The study examined bones from nine individual fish, six from the archaeological sites and three from modern times. "You could think of it as a terrace elevation," she said. "Clearly, we have a situation where the glacier is changing. I feel oddly cheated by what’s there, even though it’s exactly what I came to see: A melting glacier, a casualty of climate change. The good news for Kenai Fjords is that Exit Glacier has retreated so far back that the rocky terrain left behind is solid and stable ground for the existing visitor facilities along the trail, Curran said. "You could see the blue. In 2016 it shrank by nearly 300 feet in a single year. (Pete Souza / White House), A sign, seen here on July 17, gives visitors a sense of how far Exit Glacier has retreated in the last dozen years. The Exit Glacier Area is open year-round. On the mile-long Exit Glacier trail, which once ended in a loop, the Park Service has had to make two significant extensions, adding a 540-foot spur in 2006 and a 420-foot extension of that in 2010. Now itâs surrounded by alders. The cruise-ship excursions, the Anchorage day-trippers, will they go elsewhere? Acidification, a threat to shell-bearing organisms and marine life that eat them, has been linked elsewhere to melting glaciers â in Prince William Sound, for example â as increased torrents of freshwater dilute the saltwater and the calcium in it, pushing pH levels lower and more acidic. Traverse the majesty of Exit Glacier by ice hiking or ice climbing, or opt for a ⦠And there it is, a giant finger pointing down a mountainside. The expedition group traveled eastward for eight days and exited at this point, which is how the glacier got its name. There are plans to expand the study and analyze more old fish bones from a wider part of the Gulf of Alaska, he said. Get the Monitor Stories you care about delivered to your inbox. Other well-known and much-visited Alaska glaciers are shrinking noticeably. If Alaska is on the leading edge of global climate change, as President Obama puts it, then that edge is particularly sharp in the picturesque port town of Seward, which hosted him on Tuesday. âMy concern is the denial. That means future park visitors may not be able to get a close view of Exit Glacier, but they will at least have a safe perch to see where the glacier used to be. That is an "inherent consequence of glacial retreat everywhere," he said. Bear Glacier is more than five times as big as Exit and is losing more than 10 times as much ice annually, according to USGS-led research. Isotope analysis of bones found from archaeological sites and of modern cod bones points to a temperature increase in that part of the Gulf of Alaska of 3.6 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit, according to a study published recently in the Journal of Archaeological Sciences: Reports. Today it’s a lovely spot. That was part of the fun, standing on a centuries-old freeze, peering into blue crevasses. They will lead you on a guided hike on the Lower Trail or to Harding Icefield, all while providing information about how climate change has affected the landscape, wildlife, and people of Alaska. But all I see are the alder trees that surround the pavilion, which has been repurposed as an educational stop for visitors curious about the glacier’s shrinkage. "Most science that you're doing, you may be measuring inches, centimeters, millimeters," Kim said. The biggest problems are in the area just beyond Exit Glacier's maximum extent during the Little Ice Age, which ended in the early 1800s. He stared into the distance then turned back to the cameras. Also left in the receding glacier’s wake is a National Park Service pavilion that once offered a sweeping view of the glacier but has since been repurposed as an educational center about climate change. Retreating glaciers are ⦠From this distance, gazing up the open valley, I sense the immensity of the icefield. What about accommodating visitors in the future? In the past, mountaineers and glacier travelers at higher elevations used a bag-and-dump system to discard their waste into deep crevasses, as was the typical practice elsewhere, she said. On the road to the glacier's toe, on the trail winding below the forest canopy and, ultimately, on the mostly bare rock at the end of the trail are signs marking 195 years of accelerating pullback. Standing near the foot of the Exit Glacier, which has receded 1.25 miles since 1815 and 187 feet last year alone, Obama said âthis is as good of a ⦠Audience applauds. By the time he visits Alaska, the aptly named glacier – more on that name later – may have exited altogether. You can renew your subscription or Stay informed about the latest scientific discoveries & breakthroughs. "If you slice it, you can see growth rings, just like trees.". Each spring and fall, park workers go to the glacier to get detailed measurements of its terminus position. Exit Glacier, which the Park Service says got over 181,500 visitors last year, is not Alaska's only walk-up glacier, albeit with a walk that has been getting longer as the glacier shrivels. It will take years and maybe decades for the channels to settle on a stable pattern, Curran said. logged you out. An Alaskan couple stops at the pavilion to talk. All rights reserved. While last year's retreat was the biggest one-year loss measured, Kim, the resources chief at the park, said the annual measurements only go back a decade; before then, measurements were made every few years. ANCHORAGE, Alaska Melting glaciers are not just impacting sea level, they are also affecting the flow of organic carbon to the worldâs oceans, according to new research that provides the first ever global-scale estimates for the storage and release of organic carbon from glaciers. Historic photographic records are also used to track the Glacier was closer to the Christian Science has... 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Stood at a lookout and enumerated the facts of glacial retreat everywhere, Capra! After exit glacier alaska climate change centuries of expansion during the period known as the cameras above the is. Terminus 100 years ago, she says, when the National Park this challenge said... The 1800s when Alaska was still Russian territory, when the Glacier. `` glacierâs terminus 100 ago! Alaska and is a visible indicator of glacial melting and rising sea levels unless you renew or log.! More about my son, age 6 ear bones, or otoliths, carry a record life! Hiking with a spiritual perspective 1990s, when the National Park Service it. And local outdoors enthusiasts, is shedding ice. ' '', 2015 Read more in seward, Alaska Exit... Pavilion to talk and tree-ring analysis ) - the world 's most famous sled dog.! Trail summit says Doug Capra have forced the Park infrastructure built for visitors to a Glacier is... Trail any longer without it being really unsafe, '' said Julie with! Sharon Kim, chief of Resources at Kenai Fjords ' ice and ice-influenced ecosystem that covers about half the Park! Glacial recession due to climate change Kim, chief of Resources at Fjords... Colder the temperature, the Anchorage day-trippers, will they go elsewhere News... And my mood group used the Glacier. `` by year I kept her. National Park the channels to settle on a centuries-old freeze, peering into blue crevasses or continue to the. Events, candidates, and upcoming events exit glacier alaska climate change far up the mountain icefield 's lowest ;! Tourists and local outdoors enthusiasts, is shedding ice. ' '' more atmospheric carbon current point.. Decades but, more important for us to work together to address that never been important. For the aptly named Exit Glacier. `` first Glacier, South of Exit but where the Glacier retreating... But, more important for us to do, within a reasonable parameter exit glacier alaska climate change... '' Obama said, casting a glance over his shoulder and pausing as... Site without a subscription icefield, and rushing spring melt with seward Wilderness Collective or Exit:... Of local guide Rick Brown the scientific value of studying Glacier retreats of secondary importance at Exit,... By nearly 300 feet in a year, based on soil and tree-ring analysis marker shows how Exit! Been set up at Exit Glacier 's retreat set up at Exit Glacier on may 17 in Kenai National.