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Definition:
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A type of glacier on which ablation by melting or sublimation occurs throughout the year. Year-round ablation is typical of glaciers in the inner tropics, where there are two seasonal temperature maxima each year, and seasonal temperature variations are smaller than diurnal temperature variations. The seasonal variation of mass balance is affected more by variation of accumulation rates between wet and dry seasons than by variation of ablation rates between winter and summer. Year-round ablation is also observed at low altitude on glaciers in some warm maritime climates, as in Norway, and on high-latitude glaciers where ablation is predominantly by sublimation, as in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica.
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