Meaning of Glacier (What is it, Concept and Definition)

What is Glacier:

A glacier is a thick mass of ice formed on the earth's surface by the accumulation, compaction and recrystallization of snow.

Glaciers are apparently permanent bodies of ice that show signs of movement by gravity and also provide evidence of flow in the past or today.

They are formed when the annual rainfall of snow exceeds the evaporated in summer.But for this to happen, cold weather must predominate so that the snow accumulates and does not melt completely.

On the other hand, the glaciation is the process of the growth and establishment of a glacier.Glaciers are made mainly of ice but snow, air, water and the remains of rock or sediments contained or transported by ice are also part of the body of a glacier.

Glacier translates into English as glacier as, for example, “ The Perito Moreno glacier is beautiful ”(“ The Perito Moreno Glacier is beautiful ”).

Importance of the glacier

The glacier as a body of water is a reserve of fresh water or pure water.This means that glaciers are important, as they serve as natural storage of fresh water that we can drink.

In addition, glaciers are an important part of the water cycle (or hydrological cycle ) participating in the evaporation and runoff processes, also contributing to the formation of condensation, precipitation and infiltration.

Glacier location

Most glaciers are located in areas near the poles.The glaciers of greater extension are those called ice caps and are located in the North Pole, the vast majority in Greenland, and in the South Pole, in the Antarctic.

In South America, the Patagonian ice fields (Perito Moreno glacier) and al can be found on the border between Argentina and Chile The feet of the Andes, such as Bolivia and Peru.

In the rest of the world, glaciers can be seen in Norway, Russia, Alaska (Hubbard Glacier), Canada and France.

The vast expanses of ice that cover the North Pole in the Arctic Ocean are not glaciers, however, Greenland is a glacier that comprises 8% of the volume and 14% of the total area of ​​the world's glaciers.

Antarctica comprises 91% of the volume and 84% of the total area of ​​the world's glaciers, and all glaciers accumulate approximately 70% of the world's fresh water.The rest of the glaciers comprise less than 1% of the volume and 4% of the total area of ​​the world's glaciers.

Types of glaciers

The world's glaciers are varied and classified according to their shape, climate and thermal conditions.

In this sense, we can find the following types of glaciers:

• Valley or alpine glaciers : they are generally small, cover forests and often form tongues of ice, such as the Hubbard Glacier in Alaska.
• Cap Glaciers : They are large covering land masses located mostly between Greenland and in Antarctica, such as the southern Patagonian ice field.
• Plateau glaciers : They are smaller in size and cover plateaus such as Iceland's glaciers and some islands of the Arctic Ocean.

On the other hand, icebergs are detachments of pieces of glaciers.

Melting glaciers

Currently, approximately 10% of the Earth is covered with glaciers.In recent geological times that percentage reached 30%.

Global warming, as a global climate change, is causing a greater melting of the ice of the glaciers causing the oceans to increase and accumulate every year except ice or pure water.In this sense, it is causing a drastic change static in the ecosystem.