Harding Icefield

The Harding Icefield is an expansive icefield located in the Kenai Mountains of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. It is also partially located in Kenai Fjords National Park. It is named for United States President Warren G. Harding. It also provides one of the most spectacular views the Kenai Peninsula has to offer.

Geography

The Harding Icefield can claim to cover over 300 square miles (483 km²) in its entirety (although, if one were to count its glaciers which descend from the icefield in all directions, the icefield measures in at over 1,100 square miles (1,771 km²) [ [http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF13/1385.html Alaska Science Forum: "Harding Icefield's Loss is the Ocean's Gain." Retrieved December 14, 2006.] ] The icefield spawns up to 40 glaciers, and of all types: hanging, tidewater, valley to name a few. Some of the more notable glaciers include the Tustumena Glacier, Exit Glacier, and McCarty Glacier. The Exit Glacier, however, is the most accessible of the glaciers being reached by a spur road off of the Seward Highway.

The icefield is also one of four remaining icefields in the United States and is the largest icefield contained entirely within the United States. [ [http://www.nps.gov/kefj/planyourvisit/exit-glacier.htm Kenai Fjords National Park - Exit Glacier (U.S. National Park Service) ] ] . The icefield itself receives over 400 inches of snow each year [ [http://www.kenai.fjords.national-park.com/sights.htm KenaiFjordsNationalPark.com: "Sights To See." Retrieved December 14, 2006.] ] .

ee also

*List of glaciers and ice fields

References

External links

*Gnis|1894657
* [http://www.gi.alaska.edu/ScienceForum/ASF13/1385.html Article on retreat of Harding Icefield]