College Fjord

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Infrared-enhanced image of College Fjord. Snow appears white, glaciers appear bright blue, and land surfaces with vegetation on them appear red. Although the two-dimensional image makes it appear that the glaciers along the western side of the fjord simply fill in great ravines, in reality, the glaciers tumble down toward the water over steep hillsides like frozen waterfalls.

College Fjord is a fjord located in the northern sector of Prince William Sound in the U.S. state of Alaska. The fjord contains five tidewater glaciers (glaciers that terminate in water), five large valley glaciers, and dozens of smaller glaciers, most named after renowned East Coast colleges. It is a popular destination for cruise ships. College Fjord was discovered in 1899 during the Harriman Expedition, at which time the glaciers were named. The survey comprised both a Harvard and an Amherst professor, and they set about naming the glaciers after elite colleges. According to Bruce Molina, author of Alaska's Glaciers, "they took great delight in ignoring Princeton".[1]