- Glacier Quick Facts | National Snow and Ice Data Center
What is a glacier? A 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
- Glaciers - National Snow and Ice Data Center
What is a glacier? A 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 Alpine glaciers are frozen rivers of ice, slowly
- Science of Glaciers | National Snow and Ice Data Center
Science What is the lifecycle of a glacier, and what factors influence its lifecycle? The amount of precipitation, whether in the form of snowfall, freezing rain, avalanches, or wind-drifted snow, is important to glacier survival
- Why Glaciers Matter | National Snow and Ice Data Center
Glacier melt delivers nutrients into lakes, rivers, and oceans Those nutrients can drive blooms of phytoplankton—the base of aquatic and marine food chains Meanwhile, gradual glacier melt sustains stream habitats for plants and animals So, glaciers often have an indirect impact on wildlife and fisheries
- World Glacier Inventory - NSIDC
Glacier Parameters Search Search by geographic cooridnates (lat lon), altitude size length, data contributor, and glacier features such as primary class, form, frontal characteristic, longitudinal profile, major source of nourishment, and tongue activity
- Seeking the world’s largest glaciers - National Snow and Ice Data Center
What defines a glacier? What are the world’s three largest glaciers? What are the largest glaciers in each region of the world? As often as the rapidly changing cryosphere is making headlines, from stories on dwindling Arctic sea ice to thawing permafrost to melting ice sheets, one would think the answers to these questions would be obvious and easy to find
- Ice Sheet Quick Facts | National Snow and Ice Data Center
This illustration provides a simplified view of an ice sheet The illustration also includes a nearby mountain glacier, giving an idea of the difference in scale between ice sheets and alpine glaciers — Credit: NASA What is an ice cap? Ice caps are miniature ice sheets An ice cap covers less than 50,000 square kilometers (19,300 square miles) and comprises several merged glaciers Like ice
- Learn - National Snow and Ice Data Center
Quick facts, basic science, and information about snow, ice, and why the cryosphere matters The cryosphere includes all of the snow and ice-covered regions across the planet
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