Glacier
hideA glacier is a large mass of ice moving slowly over some land surface or down a valley, formed over long periods from the accumulation of snow in areas where the amount of snow that falls exceeds the amount that melts. The word glacier comes from French via the Vulgar Latin glacia, and ultimately from Latin glacies meaning ice.
Glacier ice is the largest reservoir of fresh water on Earth, and second only to oceans as the largest reservoir of total water. Glaciers cover vast areas of the polar regions and are found in mountain ranges of every continent except Australia, as well as in New Zealand. In the tropics glaciers are restricted to the highest mountains. The processes and landforms caused by glaciers and related to them are referred to as glacial. The process of glacier growth and establishment is called glaciation. Glaciers are sensitive monitors of climate conditions and are crucial to both world water resources and sea level variation.
For more information about Glacier, read the full article at
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News tagged with glaciers
Antarctica served as climatic refuge in Earth's greatest extinction event
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Dec 02, 2009 |
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A new fossil species suggests that some land animals may have survived the end-Permian extinction by living in cooler climates in Antarctica. Researchers have identified a distant relative of mammals that apparently survived ...
Ancient high-altitude trees grow faster as temperatures rise
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 16, 2009 |
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PIC=32536:left]Increasing temperatures at high altitudes are fueling the post-1950 growth spurt seen in bristlecone pines, the world's oldest trees, according to new research.
Alberta's hidden valleys offer both resources and danger
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 12, 2009 |
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Alberta is crisscrossed with hidden glacial valleys that hold both resource treasures and potential danger. University of Alberta researcher Doug Schmitt discovered a 300 metre deep, valley hidden beneath the surface of the ...
Scientists prepare for large-scale glacial floods (w/ Video)
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 04, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Surging floods as powerful as the Amazon could hit parts of Europe within decades, according to new research.
'Whitewash' could slow global warming: Peruvian scientist
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Nov 04, 2009 |
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A Peruvian scientist has called on his country to help slow the melting of Andean glaciers by daubing white paint on the rock and earth left behind by receding ice so they will absorb less heat.
Life's Ancient Island in the Ice
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Oct 29, 2009 |
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During the last ice age, massive glaciers covered much of our planet. However, a region of Alaska, Siberia and the Canadian Yukon remained ice-free. This region, known as Beringia, supported unique organisms ...
Glacial melting may release pollutants in the environment
Oct 21, 2009 |
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Those pristine-looking Alpine glaciers now melting as global warming sets in may explain the mysterious increase in persistent organic pollutants in sediment from certain lakes since the 1990s, despite decreased ...
Experts warn glaciers in Indian Kashmir melting
Oct 13, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Indian Kashmir's glaciers are melting fast because of rising temperatures, threatening the water supply of millions of people in the Himalayan region, a new study by Indian scientists says.
Climate talks resume in Bangkok with deal in doubt
Sep 26, 2009 |
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(AP) -- Two years ago, governments from around the world came together on the island of Bali and agreed to urgently rein in the heat-trapping gases blamed for deadly heat waves, melting glaciers and rising ...
Swiss to inaugurate high-tech, green mountain hut
Sep 25, 2009 |
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Switzerland will inaugurate on Saturday a new mountain refuge in the Alps that looks more like a futuristic space station than the no-frills stonewall huts that alpinists are more familiar with.
NASA Ice Satellite Maps Profound Polar Thinning
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 24, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers have used NASA’s Ice, Cloud and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) to compose the most comprehensive picture of changing glaciers along the coast of the Greenland and Antarctic ...
Lasers from space show thinning of Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 23, 2009 |
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The most comprehensive picture of the rapidly thinning glaciers along the coastline of both the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets has been created using satellite lasers. The findings are an important step forward in the ...
Warming ocean melts Greenland glaciers
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 23, 2009 |
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(AP) -- With whale fins splashing in the distance, Ruth Curry hauls up her catch from the blustery deck of an icebreaker.
Early spring time for Edinburgh? Study predicts effect of global warming on spring flowers
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 10, 2009 |
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Will we soon see the flowers of Edinburgh in full bloom in the depths of winter? This possibility is considered in a new study into the impact of global warming on spring flowering, published today in the International Jo ...
Humans causing erosion comparable to world's largest rivers and glaciers
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
Sep 02, 2009 |
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(PhysOrg.com) -- A new study finds that large-scale farming projects can erode the Earth's surface at rates comparable to those of the world's largest rivers and glaciers.
