Blue Glacier
Blue Glacier is a large glacier located to the north of Mount [Olympus |Mount Olympus] in the Olympic Mountains of Washington. The glacier covers an area of and contains of ice and snow in spite of its low terminus elevation. The glacier length has decreased from about in 1800 to in the year 2000. Just in the period from 1995 and 2006, Blue Glacier retreated. Blue Glacier is also thinning as it retreats and between 1987 and 2009 the glacier lost of its depth near its terminus and between in the uppermost sections of the glacier known as the accumulation zone.
Description
Starting at an elevation of near Mount Olympus's three summits, the Blue Glacier begins as a snow/ice field separated by arêtes. As the glacier flows north, it cascades down a steep slope and thus, the smooth ice turns into a chaotic icefall, replete with seracs and crevasses. After the ice passes the icefall, the glacier ends up in a valley and takes a left turn to the west. Another ice stream from a snowdome located to the northwest of Mount Olympus joins the Blue Glacier and together, the joined ice streams flow down to a cliff at. On this steep, barren, rocky slope, the Blue Glacier terminates after dropping over in only. The rocky cliff used to host a second icefall before the terminus of Blue Glacier retreated up the cliff.A weather station operated from 1957 to 1963 at an elevation of 6910 ft near the glacier recorded rain and snowfall events, and average temperatures. However, the temperature record is irregular and contains mostly summer months. Nevertheless, at least one snow event occurred in all twelve months during the six years the station was operated.