How thick are glaciers?
A good guess is that the ice thickness is about one-half of the surface width of the glacier. Although few glaciers have been measured, the measured thicknesses range from a few tens of meters for small glaciers to about 1,500 meters for the largest glaciers in Alaska. Myths: 1. Iceworms are a joke originated by gold rush poet Robert Service (see The Ballad of the Ice-Worm Cocktail). They are real – they are annelid worms (class Oligochaeta); several species are recognized. Also, there are several insects and algae that live on the surfaces of glaciers. 2. Alaska was covered by glaciers during the Great Ice Age (Pleistocene). No – interior Alaska was a grassland refuge habitat for a number of plant and animal species during the maximum glaciation. 3. Today’s glaciers are leftovers from the ice age and Glacier ice is “really old.” Sort-of and no – we must distinguish between glaciers and the ice in glaciers. Like the difference between rivers and the water in rivers: it takes a few week
