![](http://www.alamy.com/thumbs/6/91E7AA11-6D16-44D2-AE01-E091E61BBF13/2ADFB4E.jpg)
Glacial retreat. Image 2 of 2. Muir Glacier, Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, photographed in 2004. The glacier is just visible at the centre top. M
Glacial retreat. Image 2 of 2. Muir Glacier, Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska, photographed in 2004. The glacier is just visible at the centre top. Most of the foreground is water. Glaciers are large, slow-moving expanses of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow. They are sensitive to climate change and in recent years, most have retreated dramatically. See image E235/390 for a photo of Muir Glacier taken from the same viewpoint in 1941. The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) is a US body that supports research into snow, ice, glaciers, frozen ground and climate interactions that make up the Earth's cryosphere. The World Data Center for Glaciology (WDC) in Boulder, USA, is responsible for archiving all available glaciological information.
Size: 5123px × 3425px
Photo credit: © BRUCE F. MOLNIA, NSIDC, WDC/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: 2004, 21st, alaska, alaskan, america, american, archival, archive, bay, century, change, climate, climatological, climatology, compared, comparing, disappearing, environment, geographical, geography, geological, geology, glacial, glacier, glaciology, global, history, ice, lake, loss, mountain, muir, national, north, nsidc, park, photography, repeat, retreat, retreated, retreating, sequence, series, shrinkage, shrinking, snow, states, united, usa, warming, wdc