Mendenhall Glacier is expected to melt away by 2050 — and more than 700,000 tourists this year are scrambling to see it before it's gone forever.
Hutchinson is the general manager of Juneau Tours and Whale Watch, a company facing the climate change-driven tourism boom in Juneau, Alaska.
This year, an estimated 700,000 people will be traveling by foot, boat or helicopter to visit Mendenhall Glacier — which is roughly ten miles from the state capital. It's one of more than 660 named glaciers in Alaska, but experts expect it to melt away due to rising temperatures by 2050. Tourists today are scrambling to see the site before that happens.
Already a popular tourist destination, Juneau welcomes as many as 20,000 cruise passengers a day, many hoping to see Mendenhall Glacier during their visit. But residents of the state capital — which has a population of around 32,000 — worry if they can support the congestion of today's tourism boom, as well as a future in which the glacier is gone.
Other sites in Alaska have also seen upticks in tourists hoping to see the glaciers before they melt away, but some areas paint a grim picture of the future.
México Últimas Noticias, México Titulares
Similar News:También puedes leer noticias similares a ésta que hemos recopilado de otras fuentes de noticias.
This Alaskan glacier holds back billions of gallons of water. Until it doesn’t.This summer’s torrent of meltwater from the Mendenhall Glacier, known as a glacial outburst flood, dwarfed any that have occurred since the phenomenon began in Juneau a dozen years ago.
Leer más »
Body of missing hiker found at Glacier National Park, officials saySearch crews have found the body of a Colorado man who went missing while hiking Glacier National Park in northwestern Montana, according to National Park Service officials.
Leer más »
A glacier baby is born: Mating glaciers to replace water lost to climate changeResidents of Pakistan's Himalayan region turn to science and folklore, with backing from the U.N. They're erecting ice towers, harvesting avalanches and performing an ancient glacier ritual.
Leer más »
Engineers are building the first bridge over a moving rock glacierIn Denali National Park, Alaska, a major road has been rapidly slipping down a mountain as the permafrost melts. Now, a huge project to build a bridge over the Pretty Rocks landslide has begun
Leer más »
Missing Colorado climber found dead in Glacier National ParkAdam Fuselier, 32, of Castle Pines, Colorado, was reported overdue from a planned climb on Reynolds Mountain.
Leer más »
Measuring the retreat of Italy's largest glacierThe Adamello glacier, the largest in the Italian Alps, is slowly being destroyed by global warming, with experts giving it less than a century to survive.
Leer más »