Glaciers are an important indicator of climate change. While scientists estimate that there are about 80,000 glaciers worldwide, there may actually be many more. One goal of the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space Project is to create a geographic information system capable of measuring changes in individual glaciers.
Vegetation is red, and snow and ice are white and blue.
Icebergs calved off of the glaciers appear as white dots in the water. Dark streaks on the glacier are medial moraines, lines of rock and dirt that indicate where glaciers have merged. Yale Glacier to the right is retreating, exposing bedrock, now covered with vegetation, where once there was ice. On the west edge of the fjord, several small glaciers enter the water.