FACTS ABOUT DENALI

STOP 4: KAHILTNA GLACIER

NATIONAL PARK

FIELD TRIP TO
DENALI NATIONAL
Stop 2: Wonder Lake

Stop 3: Mt. McKinley

It is the longest glacier of the Alaska range.

Due to air temperature rising over time, it
is becoming thinner and losing mass. That
makes the sea levels rise, and it affects the
downstream supply of freshwater.
The water flows southward from the
summit of Denali (Mt. McKinley).
It goes from 886 ft. above sea level to an
altitude of 20,013 ft.
Glaciers are formed where more snow piles
up than melts every year. The snow
compresses after falling, and new snow
makes it more dense. Over the years, layers
of firn form, creating a giant mass of solid
ice.
Glaciers exert so much pressure and are so
heavy that the snow melts, and that helps
the bottom more able to spread.

Stop 4: Kahiltna Glacier

Stop 1: Byers Lake

The park is over six million acres of land,

and is a little larger than the state of
Massachusetts.
There are about 12,200 lakes and ponds,
and there are 18,700 miles of streams.
It was established in 1917 and was
originally called Mount McKinley National
Park.
There are 169 species of birds in the park.
Nearly half a million people visit every year.
The park is 17% covered by glaciers.
Obama changed the name of Mt. McKinley
back to its native name, Denali.

Photo of Kahiltna Glacier from

http://www.swisseduc.ch/glaciers/alaska/
kahiltna_glacier/index-en.html?id=0

Photo of Denali National Park from

http://www.basicplanet.com/denali-national-park/

Begin/End at Petersville Airport

WE WILL BE TAKING A FIELD TRIP

WITH FOUR STOPS AND OBSERVING
THE GEOGRAPHY OF DIFFERENT
LOCATIONS IN DENALI NATIONAL
PARK.
BEGIN: PETERSVILLE AIRPORT
STOP 1: BYERS LAKE
STOP 2: WONDER LAKE
STOP 3: MOUNT MCKINLEY
STOP 4: KAHILTNA GLACIER
END: PETERSVILLE AIRPORT

STOP 1: BYERS LAKE

The most common clouds that appear over

Byers Lake include cumulus and stratocumulus
clouds.
Cumulus clouds are formed when warm air
rises from the ground, and by evaporation,
carries water vapor. The warm wet air meets
cold air as it rises, and the vapor gets colder and
condenses into water droplets, which forms
clouds.

STOP 2: WONDER LAKE

There are more than 1,500 species of vascular

plants, lichens, and mosses in the park.
Since it is a sub-arctic wilderness, the plants
must be adapted to long and extremely cold
winters.
10,000 to 14,000 years ago, continental
glaciers retreated, and it took hundreds of
years for new soil to grow for re-vegetation.

The amount of moisture in the thermal that

produces the cloud affects the height at which
the cloud is formed.

The various species all come from natural

processes of birth, growth, and spreading of
native species.

They can be made of water droplets, ice

crystals, supercooled water droplets, or all of
them together.

Most shrubs and trees dont fully grow

because of thin soil and the climate.

Stratocumulus clouds are formed by shallow

and weak convection currents, possibly from
turbulent airflows up above.
They are both low-level clouds-they usually
form under 6,600 ft.
Photo of Byers Lake from
http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/couple-andyoung-girl-in-a-red-canoe-on-byers-lake-royalty-freeimage/527524769

At Wonder Lake, there are mostly spruces

and willows, as well as tundra.
There are also bogs, taiga, tundra, and the
most common trees are black and white
spruce.
Photo of Wonder lake from
http://www.terragalleria.com/parks/npimage.dena1560.html

STOP 3: MT. MCKINLEY

It is the tallest mountain in North America

at 20,310 ft. high.
It is one of very few mountains that are
composed of almost all one rock, this one
being granite.
Granite is an igneous rock that is hard but
buoyant.
The mountain is able to keep its height
since granite doesnt erode easily.
Every year, the mountain gains about one
millimeter in height due to the North
American and Pacific Plates converging.
Since it erodes more slowly and is pushed
up more easily than rocks in neighboring
mountains, the mountain is higher.
The mountain is a granitic pluton, which is
magma that cooled and solidified under the
surface.
Photo of Mt. McKinley from
http://media1.s-nbcnews.com/j/newscms/
2015_36/1200341/150831-nps-mt-mckinley-denaliyh-0122p_e4143768dc359ccb5a1fd7170d648eac.nbc
news-fp-1200-800.jpg