Old Sun Glacier is in
Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...
. The glacier is situated immediately to the east and northeast of
Mount Merritt
Mount Merritt () is located in the Lewis Range, Glacier National Park in the U.S. state of Montana. The peak is one of six in Glacier National Park that rise over . Located in the northeastern part of the park, Mount Merritt rises dramatically a ...
at an elevation between above sea level.
The glacier was named after a sun priest of the
Blackfoot
The Blackfoot Confederacy, ''Niitsitapi'' or ''Siksikaitsitapi'' (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "the people" or " Blackfoot-speaking real people"), is a historic collective name for linguistically related groups that make up the Blackfoot or Bla ...
called "Ntas", translated to Old Sun.
Old Sun Glacier has numerous
crevass
A crevasse is a deep crack, that forms in a glacier or ice sheet that can be a few inches across to over 40 feet. Crevasses form as a result of the movement and resulting stress associated with the shear stress generated when two semi-rigid pie ...
es and appears to have a healthy
accumulation zone
On a glacier, the accumulation zone is the area above the firn line, where snowfall accumulates and exceeds the losses from ablation, (melting, evaporation, and sublimation). The annual equilibrium line separates the accumulation and ablation zo ...
. Old Sun Glacier lost 12 percent of its surface area between 1966 and 2005.
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See also
* List of glaciers in the United States
This is a list of glaciers existing in the United States, currently or in recent centuries. These glaciers are located in nine states, all in the Rocky Mountains or farther west. The southernmost named glacier among them is the Lilliput Glacier ...
* Glaciers in Glacier National Park (U.S.)
There are at least 35 named glaciers in Glacier National Park (U.S.). At the end of the Little Ice Age about 1850, the area containing the national park had 150 glaciers. There are 25 active glaciers remaining in the park as of 2022. Since the ...
References
Glaciers of Glacier County, Montana
Glaciers of Glacier National Park (U.S.)
Glaciers of Montana
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