Sandy Glacier Caves

rdf:langString Sandy Glacier Caves

rdf:langString Sandy Glacier Caves

rdf:langString Sandy Glacier Caves

rdf:langString >1 mile

rdf:langString File:Ice caves in the Sandy Glacier.jpg

rdf:langString The Sandy Glacier Caves are a system of glacier caves within the ice of Sandy Glacier on Mount Hood, Oregon. They are thought to be the largest glacier caves in the lower 48 states of the United States. Surveys done in 2011 and 2012 have measured the system at over 1 mile in length or about 7,000 feet. The caves formed from internal glacial melting at what are the headwaters of the . As melting continues, the caves grow larger with their entrances melting their way up the glacier's slope. Eventually it is predicted the caves will be completely gone within 7 to 10 years once the interior melting has reached the surface of the glacier. During early summer, all three surveyed caves within the glacier are connected through perennial ice and are called the Snow Dragon Glacier Cave System. By late summer, the perennial ice melts away leaving only the disconnected glacier caves that have been individually named Snow Dragon, Pure Imagination, and Frozen Minotaur Caves. In 2013, a fourth glacier cave was discovered on the Sandy Glacier, but so far it has not been explored.

rdf:langString Public

rdf:langString Difficult

rdf:langString cavern in glacial ice

rdf:langString Exposure, hypothermia, structure collapse