A new island has emerged in Alaska this summer, unveiled by the retreat of a glacier and the subsequent rise of lake waters around a previously ice-bound landmass. Mauri S. Pelto, a glaciologist from Nichols College in Massachusetts, had long anticipated this phenomenon.
He explained that the Alsek Glacier, situated within southeast Alaska's Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, was expected to detach from the landmass referred to as Prow Knob. The glacier's ongoing retreat has carved out a basin, which has since been inundated to form Alsek Lake. This body of water is sustained by the adjacent Alsek River, meltwater from the glacier, and icebergs.
