When does a glacier die?

Gideon Brosowsky was excited to see his first glacier, dreaming of massive ice like he saw in the movie “Titanic.” But when the incoming high school junior arrived at Alaska’s Juneau Icefield on a family cruise in August, his expectations sank.

“Okay, where’s the glacier?” he asked. His mom pointed to a “small, dinky piece of ice” on a mountain. He barely recognized the glacier compared with historical pictures in local museums. Even just 20 years ago, the landscape was more impressive.

“I was in disbelief,” Brosowsky said. “I was assuming global warming is starting to eat away at these glaciers little by little, [but the pace was] a lot faster than I expected.”

If this is underwhelming now, he said, imagine what people are going to think in a few decades. It might be gone.

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