Taku Glacier

Taku Glacier (Lingít: T'aaḵú Ḵwáan Sít'i) is a tidewater glacier located in Taku Inlet in the U.S. state of Alaska, just southeast of the city of Juneau.

[2] It is about 58 kilometres (36 mi) long, and is largely within the Tongass National Forest.

The glacier, which converges with the Taku River at Taku Inlet, has a history of advancing until it blocks the river, creating a lake, followed by a dramatic break of the ice dam.

Since 1946, the glacier has been monitored by the Juneau Icefield Research Program, which has documented its rate of advance since 1988 at 17 metres (56 ft) a year.

[5] Due to the positive mass balance and the fact that it was no longer losing mass to icebergs, Taku Glacier has become insensitive to the warming that has impacted all other glaciers of the icefield.

View across the Taku Glacier to Taku Towers .
An aerial view of a small corner of Taku Glacier, 2007.
Taku Glacier at the glacial snout