An
ice field (also spelled
icefield) is an area less than 50,000 km² (19,305
mile²The square mile is an imperial and US unit of measure for an area equal to the area of a square of one statute mile.
) of
iceIce is a solid phase, usually crystalline, of a non-metallic substance that is liquid or gas at room temperature, such as carbon dioxide ice , ammonia ice, or methane ice. However, the predominant use of the term ice is for water ice, technically restricted to one of the 15 known crystalline phases...
often found in the colder climates and higher altitudes of the world where there is sufficient precipitation
http://gemini.oscs.montana.edu/~geol445/hyperglac/glossary.htm. It is an extensive area of interconnected valley glaciers from which the higher peaks rise as nunataks.
An
ice field (also spelled
icefield) is an area less than 50,000 km² (19,305
mile²The square mile is an imperial and US unit of measure for an area equal to the area of a square of one statute mile.
) of
iceIce is a solid phase, usually crystalline, of a non-metallic substance that is liquid or gas at room temperature, such as carbon dioxide ice , ammonia ice, or methane ice. However, the predominant use of the term ice is for water ice, technically restricted to one of the 15 known crystalline phases...
often found in the colder climates and higher altitudes of the world where there is sufficient precipitation
http://gemini.oscs.montana.edu/~geol445/hyperglac/glossary.htm. It is an extensive area of interconnected valley glaciers from which the higher peaks rise as nunataks. Ice fields are larger than alpine
glacierA glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. A glacier forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years...
s, smaller than
ice sheetAn ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² . 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...
s and similar in area to
ice capAn ice cap is an ice mass that covers less than 50 000 km² of land area . Masses of ice covering more than 50 000 km² are termed an ice sheet....
s.
Formation
Ice fields are formed by a large accumulation of snow which, through years of compression and freezing, turns into ice. Due to ice’s susceptibility to gravity, ice fields usually form over large areas that are basins or atop plateaus thus allowing a continuum of ice to form over the landscape and not be interrupted by glacial channels. Glaciers often form on the edges of ice fields serving as gravity-propelled drains on the ice field which is in turn replenished by the ice field’s snowfall.
While an ice cap is unconstrained by topography, an icefield is. An ice field is also distinguishable from an ice cap because it does not have a dome-like form (Summerfield 1991).
Antarctica
While not technically an ice field (a
continentA continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criterion, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents – they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia.Plate tectonics is...
al-sized
ice sheetAn ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² . 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...
rather), Antarctica is extensively covered by ice.
Asia
There are a handful of ice fields in the
HimalayasThe Himalaya Range or Himalayas for short , meaning "abode of snow", is a mountain range in Asia, separating the Indian subcontinent from the Tibetan Plateau...
and
Altay MountainsThe Altai Mountains are a mountain range in central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their sources. The Altai Mountains are known as the Turkic peoples' birthplace...
(the border range between the
Central Asian RepublicAsia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south. It is also sometimes known as Middle Asia or Inner Asia, and is within the scope of the wider Eurasian continent.Various definitions of its...
s and
ChinaChina is a cultural region, an ancient civilization, and, depending on perspective, a national or multinational entity extending over a large area in East Asia....
). One unexpected ice field is located in
Yolyn Amright|thumb|Remnants of the Yolyn Am ice field, [[September 2006]]Yolyn Am is a deep and narrow gorge in the Gurvansaikhan Mountains of southern Mongolia. The valley is named after the Lammergeier, which is called Yol in Mongolian...
, a mountain valley located in the northern end of the
Gobi DesertThe Gobi is the largest desert region in Asia. It covers parts of northern and northwestern China, and of southern Mongolia...
.
Oceania
There are no ice fields in
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the continental mainland , the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans...
.
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
has
Reference:
USGS SATELLITE IMAGE ATLAS OF GLACIERS OF THE WORLD, GLACIERS OF IRIAN JAYA, INDONESIA, AND NEW ZEALAND,GLACIERS OF NEW ZEALAND By TREVOR J.H. CHINN
Europe
The only large ice fields in continental Europe are in
NorwayNorway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a country in Northern Europe occupying the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, as well as Jan Mayen and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard under the Spitsbergen Treaty...
(e.g.,
DovreDovre is a municipality in Oppland county, Norway. It is part of the traditional region of Dovre. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Dovre....
and
JotunheimenJotunheimen is a mountainous area of roughly 3,500 km² in Southern Norway. Jotunheimen is a part of the long Scandinavian Mountains range. The 29 highest mountains in Norway are in Jotunheimen, including the very highest - Galdhøpiggen...
), but these are much smaller than their
CanadianCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
or Alaskan counterparts. There are a handful of small ice fields, also, in the southern
AlpsThe Alps are one of the great mountain range systems of Europe, stretching from Austria and Slovenia in the east; through Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Germany; to France in the west....
.
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
also features a large ice field that covers a high percentage of the island.
Greenland
Like Antarctica, Greenland is a continental-sized ice sheet and not technically an ice field.
North America
One of the more famous North American ice fields is the
Columbia IcefieldThe Columbia Icefield is an icefield located in the Canadian Rockies, astride the Continental Divide of North America. The icefield lies partly in the northwestern tip of Banff and the southern end of Jasper National Park. It is about 325 km² in area, 100 to 365 metres in depth and receives up to...
located in the
Rocky MountainsThe Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States. The range's highest peak is Mount Elbert in Colorado at above sea level...
between
JasperJasper is a specialized municipality in western Alberta, Canada. It is the commercial center of Jasper National Park, located in the Canadian Rockies in the Athabasca River valley....
and
BanffBanff is the largest town in Banff National Park, in Alberta's Rockies, Canada. It is also the first incorporated municipality located within a national park in Canada. At , it is the town with the highest elevation in Canada...
,
AlbertaAlberta is one of Canada's prairie provinces. It became a province on September 1, 1905.Alberta is located in western Canada, bounded by the provinces of British Columbia to the west and Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Territories to the north, and the U.S. state of Montana to the south....
. However, despite its fame, it is actually a comparatively small ice field relative to the America cordillera.
A large number of particularly expansive ice fields lie in the
Coast MountainsThe Coast Mountains are a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia. They are so-named because of their proximity to the sea coast, and are often referred to as the Coast Range...
,
Alaska RangeThe Alaska Range is a relatively narrow, 650-km-long mountain range in the southcentral region of the U.S. state of Alaska, from Lake Clark at its southwest end to the White River in Canada's Yukon Territory in the southeast...
, and
Chugach MountainsThe Chugach Mountains of southern Alaska are the northernmost of the several mountain ranges that make up the Pacific Coast Ranges of the western edge of North America. The range is about 500 km long, running generally east-west. Its highest point is Mount Marcus Baker, at , but most of its...
of
AlaskaAlaska is the largest state of the United States of America by area; it is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
,
British ColumbiaBritish Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is famed for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada.The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the 15th largest metropolitan region in Canada...
, and the Yukon Territory. Both the 6,500 km²
Stikine IcecapThe Stikine Icecap is a large icefield straddled on the Alaska–British Columbia boundary in the Alaska Panhandle region. It lies in the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains...
(located between the
StikineThe Stikine River is a river, historically also the Stickeen River, approximately 379 mi long, in northwestern British Columbia in Canada and southeastern Alaska in the United States...
and
Taku RiverThe Taku River is a river running from British Columbia, Canada to the northwestern coast of North America, at Juneau, Alaska. Its mouth coincides with the Alaska-British Columbia border...
s) and the 2,500 km²
Juneau IcefieldThe Juneau Icefield is an ice field located just north of Juneau, Alaska and continues north through the border with British Columbia and is the fifth-largest ice field in the Western Hemisphere, extending through an area of 3,900 square kilometers in the Coast Range ranging 140 km north to...
(located between
Lynn CanalThe Lynn Canal is an inlet into the mainland of southeast Alaska.The Lynn Canal runs about 90 miles from the inlets of the Chilkat River south to Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage...
and the
Taku RiverThe Taku River is a river running from British Columbia, Canada to the northwestern coast of North America, at Juneau, Alaska. Its mouth coincides with the Alaska-British Columbia border...
) are both straddled along the British Columbian-Alaskan border. Farther north the Kluane Icecap — which feeds the immense
MalaspinaThe Malaspina Glacier in southeastern Alaska is the largest piedmont glacier this far south in North America. It is about 65 km wide and 45 km long, with an area of some 3,900 km²...
and
Hubbard GlacierHubbard Glacier is a tidewater glacier in the U.S. state of Alaska and the Yukon Territory of Canada. From its source in the Yukon, the glacier stretches 122 km to the sea at Yakutat Bay and Disenchantment Bay. Named in 1890 after Gardiner G...
s as well as the Bagley Icefield. — sits upon the British Columbia-Yukon Territory-Alaska border and surrounds most of the
Saint Elias MountainsThe Saint Elias Mountains are a subgroup of the Pacific Coast Ranges, located in southeastern Alaska in the United States, southwestern Yukon and the very far northwestern part of British Columbia in Canada. The range spans Wrangell-St. Elias National Park and Preserve in the USA and Kluane...
as well as both
Mount Saint EliasMount Saint Elias is the second highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, being situated on the Yukon and Alaska border. It lies about southwest of Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada. The Canadian side is part of Kluane National Park, while the U.S. side of the mountain is...
and
Mount LoganMount Logan is the highest mountain in Canada and the second-highest peak in North America, after Mount McKinley . The mountain was named after Sir William Edmond Logan, a Canadian geologist and founder of the Geological Survey of Canada...
but also extends as far west as the
Copper RiverThe Copper River or Ahtna River is a 300-mile river in south-central Alaska in the United States. It drains a large region of the Wrangell Mountains and Chugach Mountains into the Gulf of Alaska...
.
There are also large ice fields located in the
Kenai PeninsulaThe Kenai Peninsula is a large peninsula jutting from the southern coast of Alaska in the United States. The name Kenai is possibly derived from Kenayskaya, the Russian name for Cook Inlet, which borders the peninsula to the west.-Geography:...
-
Chugach MountainsThe Chugach Mountains of southern Alaska are the northernmost of the several mountain ranges that make up the Pacific Coast Ranges of the western edge of North America. The range is about 500 km long, running generally east-west. Its highest point is Mount Marcus Baker, at , but most of its...
area such as the
Sargent IcefieldThe Sargent Icefield is a large icefield located on the eastern portion of the Kenai Peninsula bordering Prince William Sound in Alaska. The ice field has numerous outflow glaciers including the Chenega, Princeton, and Ellsworth Glaciers....
and the
Harding IcefieldThe Harding Icefield is an expansive icefield located in the Kenai Mountains of the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska. It is also partially located in Kenai Fjords National Park. It is named for United States President Warren G...
. Throughout the Alaska Range there also large icefields (including one surrounding Denali), although mostly unnamed.
South America
In South America, there are two main ice fields,
Campo de Hielo Norte (translates to Northern Ice Field or
Northern Patagonian Ice FieldThe Northern Patagonian Ice Field, located in Chile , is the smaller of two remnant parts in which the Patagonian Ice Sheet in the Andes Mountains of lower South America can be divided. It is completely contained within the boundaries of Laguna San Rafael National Park...
), in
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, and
Campo de Hielo Sur (translates to Southern Ice Field or
Southern Patagonian Ice FieldThe Southern Patagonia Ice Field , located at the Southern Patagonic Andes between Argentina and Chile, is the largest contigous extrapolar extension of ice in the world...
), shared by
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
and
ArgentinaArgentina, officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America, constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires. It is the eighth largest country in the world by land area and the largest among Spanish-speaking nations, though Mexico,...
. There is also a small ice field on the western (
ChileChile, officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an) portion of
Tierra del FuegoTierra del Fuego or TF is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The southern point of the archipelago forms Cape Horn.- History :...
properIsla Grande de Tierra del Fuego is an island near the southern tip of South America from which it is separated by the Strait of Magellan. Its western part is in Chile , while the east is in Argentina...
.
See also
- List of glaciers and icefields
- Ice sheet
An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km² . 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...
- Glacier
A glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. A glacier forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years...
- Nunatak
A nunatak is an exposed, often rocky element of a ridge, mountain, or peak not covered with ice or snow within an ice field or glacier. The term is typically used in areas where a permanent ice sheet is present...