EPOW - Ecology Picture of the Week

Alaska Range North Face

Mount Shand, Alaska Range
Alaska, USA

Explanation:  Here are views of the Alaska Range in central Alaska state that not many people get to see.  

This is the Alaska Range, but viewed from the north, looking south.  I am on a research flight in a small plane to document landscape condition of this part of the subarctic that is undergoing rapid alteration from climate change.

There are no public roads here, only extremely limited access to part of this region on a U.S. Army base.  The base ends at the toes of these mountains.  

The major peak here is Mount Shand.  Adorning that and other slopes are several glaciers pouring out of the clouds to the river floodplains below, adding vast amounts of glacial silt (sometimes called "glacial milk" for its cloudy appearance) to the meltwaters.  

Below, a straggler herd
of caribou grazes
lichens from the bare tundra.

The white item in the lower right
of this photo is an old shed antler, bleached by the sun.