| Term: | Annual exchange |
| Definition: | Annual accumulation minus Annual ablation. Ablation is defined to be negative, so the Annual exchange may also be regarded as the sum of the absolute values of accumulation and ablation. It is a possible measure of the amplitude of mass exchange between the glacier and its environment, but the mass-balance amplitude is more often used for that purpose. Formerly Annual exchange was defined only in the fixed-date system and total exchange was defined as its equivalent in the stratigraphic system. |