I’ve seen a Youtube video of a man throwing a big rock in a glacier river at Matanuska glacier and the camera man asked “Is that an echo?”
I browsed the comment section and the comment theme tells me it is dangerous and death awaits when you dive.
In: Planetary Science
The comments in the same video explain that it’s incredibly cold water and you will go hypothermic very quickly.
[Throwing a rock into a glacier river!
Matanuska Glacier ](https://youtube.com/shorts/_lTKHsBwAyE?si=aqTK2wPjJCD0lXWW)
I mean, it’s a very deep slippery hole with freezing cold moving water…
You could easily get seriously injured falling in, not be able to climb out, rapidly become hypothermic, then drown.
This video appears to be an opening into a sub-glacial “river”, possibly miles of which flows straight through the glacier with literally no air pockets or even light. You’ve seen how scary those videos of people trapped under lake ice can be. Imagine that except under twenty feet (or probably more) of ice and if it’s really a river, presumably it has a current as well. Absolutely terrifying.
Those are percolation routes under the glacier. The size of the tunnel would vary a lot. Anyone going in and pulled by the current is not coming out for a 1000 years.
Look up “moulin” – death traps if you’re in the middle of a glacier.
Glacier rivers are dangerously cold, and immersion can quickly lead to hypothermia, which impairs your ability to move and think. Plus, these rivers often have strong currents and hidden underwater hazards like sharp rocks and crevices that can trap or injure you. The echo might come from hollow ice or cavities beneath the surface, amplifying the sound.
Answer: I’ve spent a good amount of time walking over glaciers and sailing in the Arctic so I’ll regurgitate what I’ve been told with zero experience actually swimming in a glacial river.
1) it’s extremely cold water. The water that makes up these rivers is fresh water melt, the temp is just above freezing. Swimming in this kind of water even with a wet suit will result in hypothermia very quickly. A couple things about being hypothermic, the first is right before you die your body thinks your really hot so you strip off all of your clothes and die even faster. The second is that as your body gets colder it becomes more and more difficult to move your limbs. As you get further from the ice and in deeper water it becomes increasingly difficult to swim back meaning you will likely drown. Third is that it only takes a few minutes to die of hypothermia.
2) glacial water moves quickly and changes course often. One day the river might go to the left, the next the river might go to the right. It’s very difficult to navigate across glaciers using water ways because they constantly change.
3) crevasses. Ice can melt from within and it becomes nearly impossible to identify where giant holes in the ice are just underneath your feet. Typically when traversing ice you have some kind of stick and you’re poking the ice as you walk to make sure the ice is solid. Some times these canyons in the ice can drop hundreds of feet. If you’re swimming in a glacial river on the ice you may not even realize there’s a hundred foot waterfall until you’re falling. These are incredibly dangerous and probably the number one killer of people crossing ice sheets.
4) snow blindness. Ice is incredibly reflective, so much so that without proper eyewear you could get a temporary blindness that prevents you from really seeing out on the ice. If your buddy is about to jump in a river and you can’t see it’s easy to get lost and lose sight of them even if they are on the surface. This is probably the least severe side effect of being on the ice but can become a real problem without proper eyewear.
As for the video you poster, the echo is just what ice does. It’s like hitting a piece of metal. The rock they throw creates an echo but doesn’t have anything to do with the water itself. If you ever find your self on a glacier make sure to avoid running water at all costs because it can easily kill you.
The fact that it would be freezing cold isn’t enough of a reason?
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