Columbia Glacier (Alaska)

Columbia Glacier is a tidewater glacier that descends from the Chugach Mountains into Prince William Sound on the south coast of Alaska. It is among the fastest moving glaciers in the world and has been retreating since the early 1980s; the Harriman Alaska Expedition named it after Columbia University in 1899. The glacier is about fifty one kilometers long, covers roughly 1,000 square kilometers, and reaches about 550 meters thick. Since 1982 its terminus has retreated about sixteen kilometers, at times moving nearly thirty meters a day while shedding icebergs, and it is expected to retreat a further fifteen kilometers in coming decades.