Hubbard Glacier flows through Wrangell-Saint Elias National Park to its terminus in Disenchantment Bay, about 220 miles (355 km) east-south-east of Cordova and 32 miles (52 km) north-north-east of Yakutat, Alaska. The glacier originates from icefields in the Canadian Yukon at an elevation of around 11,000 feet (3,400 m) in the Centennial Range of the Saint Elias Mountains in Kluane National Park and Reserve. It flows about 48 miles (77 km) to the Alaska border, then continues for another 28 miles (45 km) to the ocean. The glacier was named in 1890 by Israel C. Russell of the US Geological Survey, for Gardiner G. Hubbard, a regent of the Smithsonian Institution and founder and first president of the National Geographic Society. Geologically, the St Elias Mountains consist of a collage of seven tectonostratigraphic terranes that formed in the equatorial Pacific and rafted northward on oceanic plates, eventually accreting to Alaska and North America. The most interior is the Windy-McKinley terrane, followed by the Peninsular, Wrangellia, Alexander, Chugach, Prince William and—most recent—the Yakutat terrane, which arrived about 26 million years ago and is still actively accreting. Each terrane features distinct stratigraphy and is separated from neighboring terranes by major strike-slip or thrust faults. The icefield covers most of the bedrock; what little is exposed near the terminus represents rocks of the Valdez Group in the Chugach terrane that developed during the Late Cretaceous (about 100 million to 66 million years ago) and comprise gneiss and schist. Mountain peaks that penetrate the icefield represent igneous intrusions of monzonite granite.

Gardiner Hubbard was interested in the exploration of Alaska and helped instigate exploratory expeditions sponsored jointly by the National Geographic Society and the US Geological Survey. Russell was a geologist who represented the survey in 1889 on an expedition to establish a portion of Alaska’s eastern boundary, led by the US Coast and Geodetic Survey and based on the revenue cutter Thomas Corwin under Captain Calvin L. Hooper. It was the first vessel to navigate Disenchantment Bay north of Haenke Island and take hydrographic soundings. Over the next two years Russell and a team established a series of base camps and ventured out on foot and by canoe to explore the slopes of Mount St Elias and Malaspina Glacier, making the first observations of the many glaciers that descend to Yakutat Bay, including Hubbard Glacier. He noted that Hubbard Glacier is joined by Valerie Glacier about six miles (10 km) from the composite terminus. Based partially on his detailed descriptions, it is now known that the Hubbard Glacier ice margin has continued to advance for the past century, running counter to many thinning and retreating glaciers nearby in Alaska and worldwide. In 1892 Russell became professor of geology at the University of Michigan. In 1902 Marcus Baker of the survey named Russell Fjord in his honor.

Hubbard Glacier’s advance is due to its large snow accumulation zone at high elevation. The glacier is also building a large terminal moraine, shoveling sediment, rock and other debris onto its leading edge. The moraine at the front gives the glacier stability and allows it to advance more easily because the ice does not need to be as thick to stay grounded. Hubbard Glacier is a surging glacier; it takes about 400 years for ice to traverse the entire length. A surge in May 1986 caused the glacier terminus to cross and block the entrance to Russell Fjord, an embayment that extends south-east from the head of Disenchantment Bay. The dammed meltwater from surrounding glaciers raised the fjord’s water level by 82 feet (25m) before the ice dam failed on October 8th 1986. In spring 2002 Hubbard Glacier surged again and closed the opening between Disenchantment Bay and Russell Fjord. The level of the ice-dammed fjord increased by nearly 66 feet (20m) before the dam broke on August 14th 2002, re-establishing the connection to the bay. A major surge of Hubbard could again block Russell Fjord and cause an overflow that would potentially endanger the village of Yakutat. Read more here and here. Explore more of Hubbard Glacier and Disenchantment Bay here: