|
Alpine glaciers are those that flow downward, often from mountaintops. They are much smaller than continental glaciers. When the alpine glacier reaches a valley it is often referred to as a valley glacier.
|
|
Continental glaciers are extremely vast and are not affected much by the land they pass over. They make alpine glaciers look tiny by comparison.
|
|
Temperate glaciers are usually at the melting point from the surface to the base.
|
|
A polar glacier is always at a temperature below freezing from surface to base.
|
|
A sub-polar glacier is made up of polar ice and temperate ice.
|
|
A cold-based glacier is at temperatures below freezing at ice/ground interface and frozen to the substrate below.
|
|
A warm-based glacier is at temperatures at or above freezing at interface.
|
|
Polythermal glaciers are both warm and cold based.
|
|
Lambert glacier in Antarctica is the largest glacier on earth. It is 60 miles wide and 270 miles long. It was named after Bruce P. Lambert, a mapper from Australia who, in the 1950s, helped to map the area.
|
|
A glacier must be at least .1 square kilometer in size to be classified as such. This is equal to almost 19 football fields.
|
|
As layers of snow become compressed by new layers, they take on the consistency of sugar grains. Eventually they become glacial ice.
|
|
It is estimated that there are approximately 100,000 glaciers in Alaska alone. Most do not have names.
|
|
Glaciers cover about 28,000 square miles of Alaska.
|
|
People in Alaska are able to harvest glacial ice if they obtain the correct permit.
|
|
The sea levels around the world would rise by more than 260 feet if every single ice sheet and glacier on earth were to melt.
|
|
The Jakobshavn Glacier in Greenland set a new record in 2012 by travelling at speeds of 150 feet a day.
|
|
During the last ice age, one third of the earth's ground was covered at one point by glaciers.
|
|
Every continent except for Australia has glaciers. Mexico and even the Andes in Ecuador have glaciers.
|
|
When glaciers grind bedrock it creates a fine powder that is able to be suspended in water. This can create the turquoise blue color of some lakes.
|
|
Because blue light is able to penetrate ice and snow, glaciers can appear blue.
|
|
Today 10% of earth's land is covered by glaciers.
|
|
It is estimated that 75% of the world's fresh water supply is held in glaciers.
|
