Prince William Sound

© Jeff Schultz/AlaskaStock.com

Alaska has more shoreline than the entire lower 48 and some of the most spectacular is in the Prince William Sound in Southcentral Alaska. At Alaska Stock Images, you will find a wide variety of Alaska photos including Prince William Sound Photos. To find more pictures of Alaska or photos of Prince William Sound, visit our search page.

Prince William Sound is a uniquely beautiful area of Alaska's coastline. Surrounded by glacially-carved fjords on the north Gulf of Alaska, Prince William Sound covers roughly 3,000 miles of shoreline and supports large numbers of sea birds, marine mammals and some of the world's richest herring and salmon fisheries. Five major salmon hatcheries operate in the Sound. Other important resources include dungeness crab, shrimp, halibut and other groundfish. The Sound is home water to one of the world's densest populations of sea otters and killer whales. Seals, sea lions are also residents and, when combined with the otters and orcas, represent one of the most profuse population worldwide of marine mammals.

Historically, the sound was also a meeting place of diverse cultures, including the resident Chugach Eskimos and Eyak Indians, and Asian and European explorers and pioneers. Its location, where north temperate and sub-arctic conditions overlap, results in a wealth of natural resources, safe harbors, and natural beauty.

Prince William Sound is the northern boundary of the world's farthest north temperate rainforest. This coastal forest strip, primarily comprised of slow growth Sitka spruce, mountain hemlock and western hemlock, is critical habitat to Sitka black-tailed deer, mountain goats and is home to a wide variety of other animals. Two hundred and forty species of birds - notably about 3,000 bald eagles and a dozen major seabird colonies - are found in the Sound and the adjacent Copper River Delta region. During May, Cordova hosts the annual Copper River Delta Shorebird Festival. As many as 5 million shorebirds rest and feed here during spring migration.

Cordova, a community of 3,000 year-round residents on the eastern shore of Orca Inlet, is one of the major communities located on the Sound and yet it has no access by road. A bridge was built in 1908 and cost 1.5 million dollars. It served the purpose of transporting copper ore from the Kennecott Copper Mine across the Copper River and all the way to Cordova using railroad cars. It was used for thirty years until the Kennecott Copper Mine closed. In 1958 it was changed from a railway bridge to a vehicle bridge, but it received major damaged in the 1964 earthquake and today is impassable by vehicles. Known as the "Million Dollar Bridge" it is a major tourist attraction in the area. Cordova does, however, offer good access to both Prince William Sound and the adjacent Copper River Delta, the largest contiguous wetlands in the Western United States. Once a railroad gateway to Alaska's interior, Cordova today is a hub of commercial fishing activity with a growing tourism industry. Its facilities include a modern airport with daily service to Anchorage and Seattle, a new hospital and regular ferry service to Valdez, Whittier and Seward.

The largest community on the Sound is Valdez. The nearby Keystone Canyon, Thompson Pass, Worthington Glacier, and Lowe River, have served to keep Valdez as a major tourist destination since the mid 1900's. Valdez is also the terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. However, the oil industry in the Sound has had a mixed history. Although Alaska's largest income source is through the oil industry, the Prince William Sound has paid a high price. In 1989, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground and lost over 11 million gallons of crude into the Sound near Bligh Reef., the grounding of the Exxon Valdez prompted both the state and federal governments to significantly alter the laws, regulations and strategies relating to oil pollution. Ten years after the oil spill, a study concluded that although it is clear that many fish and wildlife species injured by the spill have not fully recovered, commitment has been made "to maintain cooperation at all levels so that the resources, people and communities impacted by the Exxon Valdez oil spill are restored and that future spills are prevented." (Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Final Report)

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Alaska's Glaciers

© Lynn Wegener / Alaska Stock

With thousands of miles of coastline, an abundant amount of lakes, rivers, and mountains, perhaps one of the most unique features of Alaska are the Glaciers. At Alaska Stock Images, you will find a wide variety of Alaska photos including the most pristine and beautiful Alaska Glacier Photos. To find more pictures of Alaska or photos of glaciers and icebergs, visit our search page.
The United States has close to 75,000 square kilometers of Glaciers, and the majority of that ice is located in Alaska. There are an estimated 100,000 glaciers in Alaska but only about 616 are actually named. Glaciers can be as much as 4500 feet in thickness. A good way to estimate the thickness of a glacier is that the ice thickness is about one-half of the surface width of the glacier. The largest glacier in Alaska is the Bering Glacier, located in Glacier Bay, which stretches 122 miles long.

Glaciers form where more snow falls than melts over a period years, compacts to ice, and becomes thick enough to begin to move. Snow becomes a glacier when the bottom layers become so compacted and heavy that they begin to deform, lose traction on the earth’s surface and begin to “slide” or move.
Glacier crevasses and holes are often seen as blue because the red (long wavelengths) of white light is absorbed by ice and the blue (short wavelengths) are transmitted and reflected back to the eye. The longer the path that light is able to travel in the ice, the bluer it appears.

The age of a glacier is often perceived of as being very old…even ancient. However, like the difference between rivers and the water in rivers, it takes a few weeks for water to travel the full length of a river even though the “river” may have been in existence for thousands of years. Likewise, glaciers have existed in the mountains ever since the ice age, but the glacier ice moves through the entire length of the glacier in 100 years or less. So, most of the glacier ice in Alaska is less than 100 years old! Therefore, most of the glacier ice is not ice-age leftovers.

The Hubbard Glacier, found in the Russell Fjord of Glacier Bay, is the largest tidewater glacier on the North American continent. It has been advancing toward the Gulf of Alaska since it was first discovered in 1895. In fact, the Hubbard Glacier has caused concerns for the residents of Yakutat. Due to the advancement of the glacier, there have been short-term blockages of the seaward entrance of Russell Fjord, which created the largest glacier-dammed lake in North America. At the time of blockage, the new “lake” rises in level at a rate of nearly a ½ foot a day! If the Fjord ever becomes permanently blocked, the back up of water from the glacier could have catastrophic results for the people and city of Yakutat, wildlife, and ecosystem of the area.

It is estimated that during any given summer glaciers melt off produces over 50,000 billion gallons of water. The Mendenhall Glacier started retreating in the mid-1700's because its annual rate of melt began to exceed its annual total accumulation. The glacier's terminus currently calves into Mendenhall Lake, where the water is 220 feet deep. The ice is retreating at a rate of 100 to 150 feet a year. While most glaciers are retreating, there are a few that continue to grow. For example, the Taku Glacier is the only advancing glacier of the Juneau Icefield. It has been advancing since 1890 at a rate of a few hundred feet per year. The US government observes and reports on the status of glaciers overall through a series of “benchmark glaciers” as identified by the US Geological Society. The data collected will “improve the quantitative prediction of water resources, glacier-related hazards, and the consequences of climate change.”

Order canvas or framed prints of Alaska's glaciers at: http://alaskastock.artistwebsites.com/art/all/glaciers/all

Iditarod 2015 Moves to Fairbanks, Alaska

The Iditarod is a 1049 journey to Nome from Anchorage where both man and dog are tested. Every year dozens of teams leave 4th avenue of downtown Anchorage and make their way across snowy and icy conditions, up over the Alaska Range through the Rainy Pass, crossing frozen rivers, checking in at small remote villages, continuously facing the blistering winter winds on Norton Sound and on past the White Mountains into Nome. It's an annual tradition that never fails to thrill.

....except this year. Where did all the snow go? Oh yeah, it went to Boston. Snowfall has been minimal in Alaska this year...well, pretty much zero in and around the coastal town of Anchorage. But the race must go on....and so it will...in Fairbanks. About 300 miles north of Anchorage, the town of Fairbanks is hosting the 2015 Iditarod for the second time in the race's history. The excitement doesn't end just because Mother Nature decided to throw a curve ball our way. Tune in for a historic Iditarod on Iditarod.com. Also browse our Iditarod gallery on Fine Art America where you can order canvas prints, framed art prints, metal prints, acrylic prints, greeting cards, smart phone cases and even throw pillows!

http://alaskastock.artistwebsites.com/art/all/all/all/iditarod

Chugach State Park

© Clark James Mishler / AlaskaStock.com

Alaska's state park system encompasses over 3.3 million acres of rugged, unspoiled land. Some of these parks include the Caines Head State Recreation Area, Kachemak Bay State Park, Denali State Park, and the Eagle Beach State Recreation Area. Perhaps one of the most used is the Chugach State Park located just minutes from Alaska largest populous of Anchorage. Chugach State Park is the third largest state park in America coming in at just under a half a million acres.

Chugach State Park is part of the Municipality of Anchorage and includes the Chugach Mountains that overlook the Anchorage Bowl. The Chugach Mountains, Chugach State Park, and Chugach National Forest all take their name from the Chugach people, the Alaska Native group of people in the region of the Kenai Peninsula and Prince William Sound. The Chugach people are an Alutiiq (Pacific Eskimo) people who speak the Chugach dialect of the Alutiiq language.

Chugach State Park has 28 recognized trail heads, three public campgrounds and multiple interpretative kiosks and sites. Chugach State Park also has the Eagle River Nature Center, operated by a non-profit organization, and is located within the park approximately12 miles from the town of Eagle River. Chugach State Park is generally considered to have three main sections: North, Central, and South.

North park area is approximately from north of the Eagle River section to its border at Pioneer Peak. This area includes the popular Eklutna Lake area. This large glacier created lake also supplies much of Anchorage with its drinking water. The largest mountains of Chugach State Park are also located in the north part of the park.

Central park area includes the southern area of Eagle River to the Canyon Road trailhead on the Anchorage hillside. Some of the more popular destinations in this area include the Crow Creek Mine trail, Glen Alps (Flat Top) area, and the South Fork of Eagle River.

South park area is primarily the areas bordering Turnagain Arm along Seward Highway. Popular hiking areas include McHugh Creek, Windy Corner, and Bird Ridge which all give panoramic vistas of Turnagain Arm, the Chugach Mountains, and the Kenai Mountains. Traveling along the Seward Highway, there are many viewpoints including the most popular Beluga Point (named after large pods of Beluga whales that frequent the area) and Windy Corner which is a common place to view Dall Sheep near or even alongside the highway.