Athabasca Glacier, Glacier in Jasper National Park, Canada.
Athabasca Glacier is a valley glacier in Jasper National Park, Alberta, flowing down from the Columbia Icefield into the valley below. The visible tongue shows crevasses, moraines and blue ice that forms when sunlight filters through compacted snow layers.
The ice began retreating in the late 1800s, when photographers first documented the position of the glacier tongue. Markers along the access road show how far the ice reached during different decades of the twentieth century.
The Columbia Icefield Discovery Centre provides educational exhibits about glacial formation, regional geology, and the effects of climate change on ice masses.
The road leads directly to a parking area below the glacier tongue, where interpretive panels explain the visible ice formations. A short path from the parking lot allows visitors to walk up to the barrier marking the start of unstable glacier terrain.
Meltwater from this glacier flows into three different oceans: the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic through the continental divide. This triple division makes the Columbia Icefield one of the few places on Earth with such a hydrographic feature.
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