| Term: | Volume balance |
| Definition: | The change in the volume of a glacier, or part of a glacier, over a stated span of time. A volume balance contains no information about the density of the matter within the volume gained or lost. It is meaningful in itself, but is often an intermediate product in the determination of mass balance by geodetic methods. Balances expressed in ice-equivalent or water-equivalent units, such as m3 w. E. A-1, are not volume balances but mass balances. |