They form naturally when summer meltwater carves long tunnels and caves underneath the thick ice sheets. As these are natural caves that melt and break down each summer, they're constantly changing.
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Once a cave builds up a sizable mass of ice and a large volume of the surrounding bedrock becomes cold, thermal inertia propels frigid temperatures through the heat of summer. Duck Creek Ice Cave, formed in a sinkhole on the Markagunt Plateau, is an example of a cold trap ice cave.
Glacier ice is blue because the red (long wavelengths) part of white light is absorbed by ice and the blue (short wavelengths) light is transmitted and scattered.
In fact, the USDA Forest Service has ice caves in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest in Washington state, the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau, Alaska, and the very well-known Big Four Ice Caves in Washington state's Mount Baker-Snoqualmie National Forest.
A stunning discovery, a “rainbow cave,” was caught on camera at Mount Rainier National Park. It was seen illuminating the inside of an ice cave, and the cold crystallized colors were caused by naturally occurring algae.
Four years and $2.5 million later, Iceland's first man-made ice cave has opened to visitors. Located in the western part of Langjokull (Long Glacier), and 1,260 meters above sea level, the ice cave stretches deep underground giving visitors the chance to see ice that's been forming over centuries.