GLACIERS

Upper Wright Glacier, Antarctica

Definition of a glacier
Low pressure, low density

• Snow that
– Has survived
multiple summers
– Was buried and
compressed into
glacial ice
• Flows under the
force of its own
weight High pressure, high density

• Flows downhill like

a river https://vimeo.com/5414354
 Glacial Flow

• The weight of ice

causes ice to flow
• Ice crystals are
stretched out and
fused together
• Speed of ice
decreases deeper
into glacier
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4kha1RY-LM
 Where do they form?
• Every continent!
Mt Everest
• Glaciers need
– Cold temperatures
– Lots of snowfall
– High elevation near
equator Antarctica
– High latitude = low
elevation
 Where do they form?
Least Ice
• Africa Blue areas are locations of glacial ice
• Oceania
• Europe
• North America
• South America Antarctica
• Asia
• The Arctic
• Antarctica
Most Ice
10% of land on Earth is covered by ice
Glaciers on MARS!
• Mars is much colder
than Earth
• Poles are ice capped
– Dry ice (CO2)
• Meteorite craters had
glaciers in the past
• Similar to some
Antarctic glaciers
Antarctica Mars
 Glacial Budget

• Glaciers have a
budget
• Accumulation =
snowfall (deposit)
• Ablation = melt
(withdrawal)
 Glacial Budget
Accumulation > ablation -> glacier grows
Accumulation < ablation -> glacier shrinks
Accumulation = ablation -> no change

accumulation

ablation
 Glacial flow
Warm, fast glacier
• Glaciers can flow at
different speeds
• Factors affecting
speed
– Ice temperature
• Water
– Ice thickness
– Heat from bedrock
– Accumulation rate
– Ablation rate
Cold, slow glacier
 Anatomy of a glacier
Glacier Head Medial Moraine

Crevasses
Snow
Field

Outwash Rivers

Glacier Snout

Terminal Moraine
Types of glaciers
Range in size – mountain peaks to continents
Cirque Glacier

Piedmont
Glacier

Valley Glacier

Valley Glacier Tidewater Glacier

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxG81z-AUps
Types of glaciers

Ice field
Patagonia Ice Stream
Antarctica

Ice Sheet

Ice Shelf
Antarctica

Antarctica Greenland
 Glacial Erosion
The pressure and flow of
Erosion:
glaciers erodes the earth
• The removal of rock
beneath them
and soil from one point
• Grinding
and transport to another
• Plucking
Glacial Landforms
• Formed by erosion
– U-shaped valleys
– Horns Yosemite

– Aretes
– Polished bedrock

Torres del Paine, Chile

Sweden
Glacial Landforms - Deposition

Moraines

Drumlin
Martha’s Vineyard

Outwash plain
 Glaciers and water

South Patagonian Icefield

Antarctica

Glacial Lakes Glacial floods

• Provide water for billions

Himalayas of people
• Glacial meltwater can
flood and endanger
Bangladesh people
India
• Glaciers drain to the
Rivers fed by glaciers ocean -> sea level rise
 Glaciers & past climates
• If glaciers…
1. require cold temperatures and snowfall
2. create landforms we can identify
3. But there are no glaciers present
• Then we can determine
1. Where glaciers were in the past
2. What the climate used to be like

• Glaciers are important for understanding how

the environment responds to climate change
The Ice Age
• 20,000 years ago
Ice Age
the Earth’s climate
was colder
• Ice sheets existed
in the northern
hemisphere
• These ice sheets
melted around Now
12,000 years ago
 New England & the Ice Age
• Ice was a mile
thick over
Boston!
• Sea level was
120 meters
lower!
• Long Island /
Martha’s
Vineyard was at
the ice edge
 Glaciers and climate change
• Glaciers and ice sheets store water
• Affect global sea level
• Bigger Ice sheets = lower sea level
• Smaller ice sheets = higher sea level

• Glaciers are important to study!

 Retreating Glaciers
• Since the 1850’s glaciers have been
retreating and melting rapidly worldwide

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIHELl448r4
Glaciers & Climate Change
Why do melting glaciers matter?

What are the consequences of climate

change for people?