A very small glacier, typically less than 0.25 km2 in extent, with no marked flow pattern visible at the surface. To qualify as a glacieret, an ice body must persist for at least two consecutive years
. Glacierets can be of any shape, and usually occupy sheltered parts of the landscape. Windborne snow and avalanches can be dominant contributors to the accumulation of glacierets.
Very small ice or snow masses; Virtually no ice movement; Accumulation and ablation area not always clearly detectable; Small ice masses of indefinite shape in hollows, river beds and on protected slo
pes, which has developed from snow drifting, avalanching and/or especially heavy accumulation in certain years; usually no marked flow pattern is visible, exist for at least two consecutive years; Hard to detect by remote sensing analysis, due to size and short term changes in the appearance
The glacier flea (Desoria saltans) is a hexapod from the class of springtails. It is 1,5 to 2,5mm long, lives on Alpine glaciers where it occasionally occurs in great numbers. Its main food source is
cryoconite. When disturbed, glacier fleas can escape by means of a dorsal appendix which lets them jump a considerable distance. This lead to their common name although they are not fleas, but Collembolans (springtails). Various sugars protect them fom freezing, even at temperatures between -10 to -15 C. Their preferred ambient temperature ist 0 C.
A fine powder of silt- and clay-sized particles that a glacier creates as its rock-laden ice scrapes over bedrock; usually flushed out in meltwater streams and causes water to look powdery gray; lakes
and oceans that fill with glacier flour may develop a banded appearance; also called rock flour.
The movement of ice in a glacier, typically in a downward and outward direction, caused by the force of gravity. 'Normal' flow rates are in feet per day. 'Rapid' flow rates (i.e. surge) are in 10s or
100s of feet per day.
(1) Ice that is part of a glacier, as opposed to other forms of frozen water such as ground ice and sea ice. (2) Ice that is part of a glacier, having formed by the compaction and recrystallization of
snow to a point at which few of the remaining voids are connected, and having survived at least one ablation season. In this more restricted sense, the term refers to the body of the glacier, excluding not only snow and firn but also superimposed ice, accreted ice and marine ice. See zone. The density at which voids cease to form a connected network, that is, the density at which firn becomes glacier ice, is conventionally taken to be near to 830 kg m-3.
A mono-mineralic type of rock, composed of crystals of the mineral ice, formed through metamorphism of snowflakes. Metamorphism results in recrystallization, increased density, and the growth of hexag
onal crystals. This ice comprises the majority of the mass of a glacier. Intermediate stages include Firn and Neve.
(1) Ice that is part of a glacier, as opposed to other forms of frozen water such as ground ice and sea ice. (2) Ice that is part of a glacier, having formed by the compaction and recrystallization of
snow to a point at which few of the remaining voids are connected, and having survived at least one ablation season. In this more restricted sense, the term refers to the body of the glacier, excluding not only snow and firn but also superimposed ice, accreted ice and marine ice. See zone. The density at which voids cease to form a connected network, that is, the density at which firn becomes glacier ice, is conventionally taken to be near to 830 kg m-3. Ice in, or originating from, a glacier, whether on land or floating on the sea as icebergs, bergy bits, or growlers. Snowflakes are compressed under the weight of the overlying snowpack. Individual crystal near the melting point have slick liquid edges allowing them to glide along other crystal planes and to readjust the space between them. Where the crystals touch they bond together, squeezing the air between them to the surface or into bubbles. During summer we might see the crystal metamorphosis occur more rapidly because of water percolation between the crystals. By summer's end the result is firn -- a compacted snow with the appearance of wet sugar, but with a hardness that makes it resistant to all but the most dedicated snow shovelers! Several years are usually required for the snow to settle and to season into the substance we call glacier ice. Above the firnline, snow that falls each year packs down and changes into glacier ice as air is slowly forced out of it. Ice in, or originating from, a glacier, whether on land or floating on the sea as icebergs, bergy bits or growlers.