Glacier Quick Facts | National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBA glacier is an accumulation of ice and snow that slowly flows over land. Alpine glaciers are frozen rivers of ice, slowly flowing under their own weight down mountainsides and into valleys. Ice sheets exist only on Greenland and Antarctica, and they spread out in broad domes in multiple directions. A group of people explore the Perito Moreno ...
Glaciers - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBA glacier is an accumulation of ice and snow that slowly flows over land. At higher elevations, more snow typically falls than melts, adding to its mass. Eventually, the surplus of built-up ice begins to flow downhill. At lower elevations, there is usually a higher rate of melt or icebergs break off that removes ice mass.
Glaciers - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBGlaciers move by internal deformation of the ice, and by sliding over the rocks and sediments at the base. The weight of overlying snow, firn, and ice, and the pressure exerted by upstream and downstream ice deforms glacier ice, in a phenomenon known as creep. A glacier may slide on a thin layer of water at its base.
Glaciers - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBGlaciers, slow-moving rivers of ice, have sculpted mountains and carved valleys throughout Earth's history. They continue to flow and shape the landscape in many places today.
Glacier Photograph Collection - NSIDC
WEBThe Glacier Photograph Collection is an online, searchable collection of glacier photographs, mostly in the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, and Greenland. Photographs were taken from the air and ground. The dates of the photographs range from the 1800s to the present day.
Sea Ice Today - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBSep 3, 2024 · With the waning of sunlight, the pace of sea ice loss in the Arctic is slowing, and the seasonal minimum is expected in mid-September. While a new record low is highly unlikely, extent at the beginning of September is below many recent years. Antarctic ice extent is approaching its seasonal maximum ...
What are glacial lakes? - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBFeb 15, 2022 · A glacial lake is a body of water that originates from a glacier. It typically forms at the foot of a glacier, but may form on, in, or under it. As Earth’s climate warms, the world’s glaciers are shrinking, increasing freshwater outputs to all kinds of glacial lakes. Some communities depend on glacial meltwater for seasonal irrigation or ...
Ice Sheets Today - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBAug 14, 2024 · Ice Sheets Today offers the latest satellite data and scientific analyses on surface melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet in the Northern Hemisphere and Antarctic Ice Sheet in the Southern Hemisphere. Surface melt on each ice sheet results from a combination of daily weather conditions and the amount of solar energy absorbed by its …
GLIMS - National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBGLIMS is an international project to inventory the world’s glaciers and to create a comprehensive, global database of land ice through repeat surveys. This data collection’s primary data product is the GLIMS Glacier Database. The glacier database includes measurements of glacier geometry, glacier area, snowlines, supraglacial lakes and rock ...
piedmont glacier | National Snow and Ice Data Center
WEBThe Malaspina Glacier is one of the most famous examples of this type of glacier, and is the largest piedmont glacier in the world. Spilling out of the Seward Ice Field (visible near the top of the photograph), it covers over 5,000 square kilometers as it spreads across the coastal plain. SPACE.com and NASA. Topic (s): glaciers.
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