Amherst Glacier flows northwest for 4 miles (6.5 km) from the Chugach Mountains to a terminus lake, located 5.5 miles (9 km) northeast of Point Pakenham in College Fjord, the northwestern-most part of Prince William Sound, and 52 miles (83 km) southwest of Valdez, Alaska. A river drains the lake and flows about 2 miles (3.2 km) to a tidal flat 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Coghill Point on the eastern shore of College Fjord. The glacier was named in 1899 by members of the Harriman Alaska Expedition after Amherst College in Amherst, Massachusetts.

The Kenai, Chugach, and Saint Elias mountain ranges form an almost unbroken chain of peaks with elevations between 6,000 and 20,000 feet (2,000-6,000 m) around the northern Gulf of Alaska. This topographic barrier intercepts moist maritime air from the south, resulting in heavy precipitation and the development of extensive icefields and valley glaciers. Recent reductions in glacier volume and variations in glacier length are among the strongest evidence of global warming. The response of glaciers to climate change during the Little Ice Age, from about 1300 to 1850, in northwestern North America has been well-documented along these ranges. Thus, glacial observations from this maritime region provide an important paleoclimate record for understanding climate change over recent millennia and its linkages with the oceans.

During the Little Ice Age, the Amherst, Crescent, and Lafayette Glaciers merged, with their maximum extent marked by forested moraines. Well-preserved logs found within these moraines have been tree-ring dated to 1633, while the ages of trees on the outermost moraine suggest stabilization around 1830. Since the Little Ice Age maximum, the glacier terminus has retreated about 1.6 miles (2.6 km) and now ends in a proglacial lake formed before 1935. Tree-ring cross-dates of glacier-killed trees on the forefield indicate the glacier margin advanced in 1625. The outer moraine stabilized around 1780, and two inner moraines, also dated with tree rings, became ice-free in 1807 and 1935, respectively. Read more here and here. Explore more of Amherst Glacier and College Fjord here: