Tyndall Glacier (Alaska)

Tyndall Glacier
The terminus of Tyndall Glacier in Taan Fjord/Icy Bay, viewed after the 2015 landslide/tsunami
Tyndall Glacier
Tyndall Glacier's location in southern Alaska
TypeValley glacier/Tidewater glacier
LocationAlaska
Coordinates60°11′46.17″N 141°8′35.69″W / 60.1961583°N 141.1432472°W / 60.1961583; -141.1432472
Length19 km
TerminusTaan Fjord
StatusReceding

Tyndall Glacier is a valley/tidewater glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska. The glacier lies immediately west of 141° West longitude, within the boundaries of the Wrangell–Saint Elias Wilderness, itself part of Wrangell–St. Elias National Park & Preserve, in the borough of Yakutat, Alaska.

Named for John Tyndall (a 19th-century Irish physicist, natural philosopher, and glaciologist), Tyndall Glacier originates in the basin formed by the southwestern face of Mount Saint Elias (the second-tallest mountain in the United States and the fourth-tallest in North America), as well as Mount Huxley, The Hump, and Haydon Peak in the Saint Elias Mountains. From there it extends 19 kilometers, trending southwest and terminating in Taan Fjord, an arm of Icy Bay. Together with the Yahtse and Guyot glaciers, it once occupied the entirety of Icy Bay; as the glaciers have retreated the bay has opened up.

Tyndall Glacier is sometimes used as a landing area for bush planes by parties seeking to climb Mount Saint Elias, as it was during the first winter ascent of the peak.