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Muir Glacier is a 
The glacier is named after Scottish-born naturalist
Muir Glacier has undergone very rapid, well-documented retreat since its
glacier
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its Ablation#Glaciology, ablation over many years, often Century, centuries. It acquires dis ...
in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve
Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is an American national park located in Southeast Alaska west of Juneau. President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the area around Glacier Bay a national monument under the Antiquities Act on February 26, 1925. C ...
in the U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...
. It is currently about wide at the terminus. As recently as the mid-1980s the glacier was a tidewater glacier
The tidewater glacier cycle is the typically centuries-long behavior of tidewater glaciers that consists of recurring periods of advance alternating with rapid retreat and punctuated by periods of stability. During portions of its cycle, a tidewate ...
and calved iceberg
An iceberg is a piece of freshwater ice more than 15 m long that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open (salt) water. Smaller chunks of floating glacially-derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits". The ...
s from a wall of ice 90 m (200 feet) tall.
The glacier is named after Scottish-born naturalist John Muir
John Muir ( ; April 21, 1838December 24, 1914), also known as "John of the Mountains" and "Father of the National Parks", was an influential Scottish-American naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, a ...
, who traveled around the area and wrote about it, generating interest in the local environment and in its preservation. His first two visits were in 1879 (at age 41) and 1880. During the visits, he sent an account of his visits in installments to the ''San Francisco Bulletin
The ''San Francisco Evening Bulletin'' was a newspaper in San Francisco, founded as the ''Daily Evening Bulletin'' in 1855 by James King of William. King used the newspaper to crusade against political corruption, and built it into having the highe ...
''. Later, he collected and edited these installments in a book, ''Travels in Alaska'', published in 1915, the year after he died.
Retreat
Muir Glacier has undergone very rapid, well-documented retreat since its Little Ice Age
The Little Ice Age (LIA) was a period of regional cooling, particularly pronounced in the North Atlantic region. It was not a true ice age of global extent. The term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939. Ma ...
maximum position at the mouth of Glacier Bay around 1780. In 1794, the explorer Captain George Vancouver
Captain George Vancouver (22 June 1757 – 10 May 1798) was a British Royal Navy officer best known for his 1791–1795 expedition, which explored and charted North America's northwestern Pacific Coast regions, including the coasts of what a ...
found that most of Glacier Bay was covered by an enormous ice sheet, some in places.
In 1904 the glacier reportedly "broke through the mountains" with Pyramid Peak to the west and Mt. Wright and Mount Case
Mount Case is a prominent mountain summit located in the Alsek Ranges of the Saint Elias Mountains, in southeast Alaska. The mountain is situated in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, as the highest point between Adams Inlet and White Glac ...
to the east.
From 1892 to approximately 1980, it had retreated nearly . Between 1941 and 2004, the glacier retreated more than and thinned by over . Ocean water has filled the valley replacing the ice and creating Muir Inlet
Muir Inlet is an inlet in Glacier Bay, U.S.A. ''Muir Inlet'' heads in Muir Glacier, and extends for south to Glacier Bay, NW of Hoonah, Alaska ''Muir Inlet'' is separated from Chilkat Inlet and Lynn Canal by Chilkat Range. ''Muir Inlet'' has ...
.
See also
*List of glaciers
A glacier ( ) or () is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight; it forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation (melting and sublimation) over many years, often centuries. Glaciers slowly deform ...
References
Glaciers of Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve Glaciers of Hoonah–Angoon Census Area, Alaska Glaciers of Unorganized Borough, Alaska {{Alaska-glacier-stub