| Term: | Ice shelf |
| Definition: | Floating ice masses; Attached to the coast; Seaward extension of terrestrial glaciers beyond the grounding line; Nourished by snow accumulation and bottom freezing in addition to influx of glacier ice; The floating part is not effected by the dynamics of the nourishing glaciers ; Floating ice sheet of considerable thickness attached to a coast nourished by glacier(s); snow accumulation on its surface or bottom freezing; Generic development of an Ice shelf starts with the confluence of several floating glaciers. Therefore this classification combination should first be taken into account, before classifying an ice mass as Ice Shelf. |