Mendenhall Glacier Blue Ice Crystals Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center ~ Juneau, Alaska
Glacier blue provides one of nature's most unusual color displays. Snow crystals become glacial ice crystals when they are compressed under the weight of continuous snowfall on the Juneau Icefield. The crystalline structure of glacial ice creates the blue color by interacting with the visible light spectrum. As light strikes the glacial ice, its crystalline structure absorbs all colors of the spectrum except blue, which travels on a shorter wavelength than the other colors of the spectrum. The energy of the blue light is transmitted by glacial ice & the observer sees blue.
Fading Fast...
When ice breaks off the glacier, it appears exceptionally blue. The crystalline structure responsible for the blue color remains intact within the glacier. In time, air bubbles & surface melting interrupt the regular patterns of ice crystals.
Recently exposed glacial ice will remain blue for only a few days before it fades to white. Fracturing of exposed crystals causes the glacier to indiscriminately scatter the visible light spectrum & appear white.
Mendenhall Glacier Blue Ice Crystals Mendenhall Glacier Visitor Center ~ Juneau, Alaska
Glacier blue provides one of nature's most unusual color displays. Snow crystals become glacial ice crystals when they are compressed under the weight of continuous snowfall on the Juneau Icefield. The crystalline structure of glacial ice creates the blue color by interacting with the visible light spectrum. As light strikes the glacial ice, its crystalline structure absorbs all colors of the spectrum except blue, which travels on a shorter wavelength than the other colors of the spectrum. The energy of the blue light is transmitted by glacial ice & the observer sees blue.
Fading Fast...
When ice breaks off the glacier, it appears exceptionally blue. The crystalline structure responsible for the blue color remains intact within the glacier. In time, air bubbles & surface melting interrupt the regular patterns of ice crystals.
Recently exposed glacial ice will remain blue for only a few days before it fades to white. Fracturing of exposed crystals causes the glacier to indiscriminately scatter the visible light spectrum & appear white.