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06-03
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Title: Malaspina glacier.
Caption: Malaspina glacier in southeastern Alaska is considered a classic example of a piedmont glacier. Piedmont glaciers occur where valley glaciers exit a mountain range onto broad lowlands, are no longer laterally confined, and spread to become wide lobes. Malaspina Glacier is actually a compound glacier, formed by the merger of several valley glaciers, the most prominent of which seen here are Agassiz Glacier (left) and Seward Glacier (right). In total, Malaspina Glacier is up to 65 kilometers (40 miles) wide and extends up to 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the mountain front nearly to the sea. This perspective view looking north covers an area about 55 kilometers x 55 kilometers (34 miles x 34 miles). It was created from a Landsat satellite image and an elevation model generated by the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Such images are excellent tools for mapping the geographic extent of glaciers and for determining whether such glaciers are thinning or thickening. (Image from NASA/JPL)
Keywords: alpine glaciers, moraines