A Portrait of Ice

A PORTRAIT OF ICEA new book captures the haunting wonder of glaciers. Perito Moreno in Patagonia is three miles wide and nineteen miles long, with ice that has been dated back 3,000 years. Photo: Photograph by Caleb Cain Marcus

A PORTRAIT OF ICEA new book captures the haunting wonder of glaciers. In 1981 Patagonia's Perito Moreno Glacier became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Photo: Photograph by Caleb Cain Marcus

A PORTRAIT OF ICEA new book captures the haunting wonder of glaciers. Fox Glacier in New Zealand is one of the only glaciers in the world that ends in rain forest. Photo: Photograph by Caleb Cain Marcus

A PORTRAIT OF ICEA new book captures the haunting wonder of glaciers. Perito Moreno Glacier in Patagonia was the first glacier photographed by Marcus and the inspiration for the project. Photo: Photograph by Caleb Cain Marcus

A PORTRAIT OF ICEA new book captures the haunting wonder of glaciers. When the American military was in Iceland, the soldiers had such a hard time pronouncing the names of land features that they abbreviated them, using the first letter followed by the number of letters. This one, Fjallsjökull Glacier, would be F12. Photo: Photograph by Caleb Cain Marcus

A PORTRAIT OF ICEA new book captures the haunting wonder of glaciers. Fox Glacier in New Zealand became the source of the town’s fame, so much so that in 1944 the residents renamed the town Fox Glacier Township in honor of its glacier. Photo: Photograph by Caleb Cain Marcus

A PORTRAIT OF ICEA new book captures the haunting wonder of glaciers. Fláajökull in Iceland is one of the many glacier tongues of Vatnajökull, which is the largest icecap in Europe. The average speed at which the tongues are moving is one meter per day. Fláajökull has retreated over a mile in the past century. Photo: Photograph by Caleb Cain Marcus

A PORTRAIT OF ICEA new book captures the haunting wonder of glaciers. Maori legend tells the story of a woman Hinehukatere who lost her lover while climbing in the mountains. Her tears froze to form the Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand that exists today. Photo: Photograph by Caleb Cain Marcus

A PORTRAIT OF ICEA new book captures the haunting wonder of glaciers. The first guiding on New Zealand’s Fox Glacier took place in 1928 from the town of Weheka. Photo: Photograph by Caleb Cain Marcus

A PORTRAIT OF ICEA new book captures the haunting wonder of glaciers. Norway’s Nigardsbreen Glacier surged in the 1700s. By 1748 it had moved 2.5 miles down the valley, covering the farm of Nigard. From that day forth the glacier was called Nigardsbreen (breen meaning glacier). Photo: Photograph by Caleb Cain Marcus

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