The vibrant blue color of glacier ice is due to the extremely dense nature of the ice and lack of air bubbles. South Sawyer Glacier extends 900 feet below the water and 200-600 feet above the water. The extreme pressure from the weight of the ice in the glacier and lack of air creates ice that absorbs all but the blue wavelengths of light in the visible spectrum. We see the reflected wavelengths as blue color. Once fragments break off and surface, they begin to gain air bubbles and lose the blue color.

South Sawyer and Sawyer (also known as North Sawyer) glaciers are found in Tracy Arm Fjord, a waterway carved from the mainland by glaciers. Both glaciers are part of the same ice field but are found in different inlets.