Melting glacier creates a new island in Alaska, satellite images show
During the following four decades, aerial images documented the stable retreat and east of the Alsek glacier and another mass of ice in the south called the Grand Plateau glacier. While the two glaciers founded, Lake Alsek increased significantly, filling the vacuum left by the Grand Plateau glacier and gradually exceeding the ice that once surrounded the bow button.
This summer, the NASA Landsat 9 satellite has observed the last piece of ice moving away from the PRW button, officially transforming the earthly mass into island.
The space agency estimated that the separation occurred between July 13 and August 6.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the Alsek glacier was much more extensive, reaching up to a terrestrial mass known as the Gateway button, located about 3 miles west of Prow Knob, according to glaciologists. Since 1984, the glacier has fallen more than 3 miles, according to NASA.
Alsek Lake, in turn, has almost doubled in size since 1984, going from around 17 squares to almost 30 square miles. The runoff of cast iron water in the glacier basin forms which is known as a “progress lake”.
An additional merger is expected in the coming years, said NASA, especially now that the ice has detached the PROW button and is therefore less stable.
