Eventually, all 100,000 Alaska glaciers will slide into the ocean and Alaska will have 20 percent more land area - but a lot of the state will be under water. None of it will be here in 2,500 years. The Taku Glacier is advancing. So is the Hubbard Glacier by Yakutat. Yep, sort of an otherworldly blue, with a smudge of dirt.
Glaciers absorb all the other colors except blue which is reflected back.
No one makes a vacuum cleaner THAT big. The dirt is called a moraine, rocks and boulders deposited as the ice at the top inches its way to the Mendenhall Lake and eventually the sea. Rain doesn't help clean it up. Those pesky little critters are practically considered the state bird in Alaska. They're flying hypodermic syringes in search for blood.