meltwater

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Water given out when snow or ice melts. Most snow and non-glacial ice melts in spring, often causing widespread flooding. Glacier ice may cause an increase in river levels later in the year.

Glacial meltwater is produced by melting at the surface or by pressure and geothermal heat at the base, such that subglacial streams develop. Some surface meltwater may percolate through the ice to emerge at the base. See fluvio-glacial. Meltwater derived from glaciers can be a powerful agent of meltwater erosion. Water flows on, within, and at the base of, decaying ice, often under pressure. Because of this pressure, meltwater can carry large quantities of debris; this load promotes abrasion. For the same reason, meltwater can flow upslope.

Four major types of meltwater can be distinguished. Ice margin meltwater follows the edge of the glacier when drainage routes have been cut off by ice. Tunnel valleys occur below the ice and can cut steep-sided, flat-floored valleys. Spillways are channels cut by streams overflowing from proglacial lakes. Coulees are canyons which result from the sudden and violent release of water from ice-dammed lakes when the barriers which impound them are breached.

For a list of words related to meltwater, see:

• Materials, Formations, and Substances - meltwater: water melted from glacial ice

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Dansk (Danish)
n. - smeltevand

Français (French)
n. - eaux de fonte

Deutsch (German)
n. - Schmelzwasser

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - νερό από λιώσιμο πάγου, παγετώνα κ.λπ.

Italiano (Italian)
acqua di disgelo

Português (Portuguese)
n. - água do degelo (f) (glacial)

Русский (Russian)
талая вода

Español (Spanish)
n. - aguanieve

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - smältvatten

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
冰雪融化后之水

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 冰雪融化後之水

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 녹은 물

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 雪や氷の溶けた水

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮מים שנוצרו מהמסת שלג או קרחון‬

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