Glacier ice accumulation

Glacier Ice Accumulation

	Email		Print
	Bookmark		Link

Glacier ice accumulation

Glacier ice accumulation occurs through accumulation of snow

Snow

Snow is a type of precipitation in the form of crystalline water ice, consisting of a multitude of snowflakes that fall from clouds. The process of this precipitation is called snowfall....
and other frozen precipitation

Precipitation (meteorology)

File:MeanMonthlyP.gifIn meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of Atmosphere water vapor that is deposited on the earth's surface....
, as well as through other means including rime ice (freezing of water vapor

Water vapor

Water vapor or water vapour , also aqueous vapor, is the gas phase of water . Water vapor is one Phase of the water cycle within the hydrosphere....
on the glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large, slow-moving mass of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity and high pressure....
surface), avalanching

Avalanche

An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, from either natural triggers or human activity. Typically occurring in mountainous terrain, an avalanche can mix air and water with the descending snow....
from hanging glacier

Hanging Glacier

Hanging Glacier is a tiny glacier located northeast of Mount Anderson in the Olympic Mountains and Olympic National Park in the United States. The glacier starts north of a mountain pass between Mount Anderson and East Peak at about ....
s on cliffs and mountainsides above, and re-freezing of glacier meltwater

Meltwater

Meltwater is the water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glaciers and ice shelfs over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing....
as superimposed ice.

Discussion

Ask a question about 'Glacier ice accumulation'

Start a new discussion about 'Glacier ice accumulation'

Answer questions from other users

Full Discussion Forum

Encyclopedia

Glacier ice accumulation occurs through accumulation of snow

Snow

Precipitation (meteorology)

Water vapor

Water vapor or water vapour , also aqueous vapor, is the gas phase of water . Water vapor is one Phase of the water cycle within the hydrosphere....
on the glacier

Glacier

A glacier is a large, slow-moving mass of ice, formed from compacted layers of snow, that slowly deforms and flows in response to gravity and high pressure....
surface), avalanching

Avalanche

Hanging Glacier

Meltwater

Glacier mass balance

Crucial to the survival of a glacier is its mass balance, the difference between glacier ice accumulation and Ablation zone . Climate change may cause variations in both temperature and snowfall, causing changes in mass balance ....
formula, with ablation

Ablation zone

On a glacier, the ablation zone, zone of ablation or zone of wastage is the area in which annual loss of snow through melting, evaporation, iceberg calving and sublimation exceeds annual gain of snow and ice on the surface....
counteracting. With successive years in which accumulation exceeds ablation, then a glacier will experience positive mass balance

Glacier mass balance

Glacier terminus

A glacier terminus, or snout, is the end of a glacier at any given point in time. Although glaciers seem motionless to the observer, in reality glaciers are in endless Glacier#Glacial motion and the glacier terminus is always either advancing or retreating....
will advance.

Accumulation zones

Glaciologists subdivide glaciers into glacier accumulation zones, based on the melting and refreezing occurring. These zones include the dry snow zone, in which the ice entirely retains subfreezing temperatures and no melting occurs. Dry snow zones only occur within the interior regions of the Greenland

Greenland

Greenland is a member country of the Kingdom of Denmark located between the Arctic Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago....
and Antarctica

Antarctica

Antarctica is Earth's southernmost continent, overlying the South Pole. It is situated in the Antarctica of the southern hemisphere, almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle, and is surrounded by the Southern Ocean....
ice sheet

Ice sheet

An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 square kilometer . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland; during the last glacial period at Last Glacial Maximum the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of Canada and North America, the Wisconsin glaciation ice sheet covered n...
s. Below the dry snow zone is the percolation

Percolation

In physics, chemistry and materials science, percolation concerns the movement and filtration of fluids through porous materials. Examples include the movement of solvents through filter paper and the movement of petroleum through fractured rock....
zone, where some meltwater penetrates down into the glacier where it refreezes. In the wet snow zone, all the seasonal snow melts. The meltwater either percolates into the depths of the glacier or flows down-glacier where it might refreeze as superimposed ice. A glacier's equilibrium line is located at the lower limit of the wet snow zone.