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Definition:
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Changes in glacier or ice sheet mass controlled by changes in flow speed and discharge rather than by accumulation or ablation. This can result in a rate of mass change larger than that due to any imbalance between accumulation and ablation. Rapid dynamical change may be initiated by a climatic trigger, such as incursion of warm ocean water beneath an ice shelf, or thinning of a grounded tidewater terminus, which may lead to reactions within the glacier system, that may result in rapid ice loss. See also Mass balance/budget (of glaciers or ice sheets).
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