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Glaciers
Glaciers are large, dynamic bodies of ice that form over long periods of time when snow accumulation exceeds ice ablation. They are among the most significant forces shaping Earth's landscape over long time scales. Glaciers are currently found at Earth's poles and in mid-latitude and equatorial mountains.
1,124 Questions
How did glaciers affect the creation of the valley yosemite?
Glaciers affected the creation of Yosemite because they helped to carve out the valley. If they were to not have existed in the region, we may not have what we know as Yosemite Valley exist today.
Why does glaciers cause floods?
A glacier is nothing more than a frozen river still moving. It might only move an inch or two per year, but it still moves and this ice will erode the ground and rock below it faster and more agressively than if it was just water. Its because glaciers also pick up and move the rocks that they run over and this gravel (chunks of rocks) can carve mountains down and cut valleys miles deep.Glaciers are huge chunks of snow and ice most time more than 1000 feet thick. They weigh huge amount and overtime become so condensed that they are harder than the rock they are on top of. They move at slow rates and the ice and erodes the rock into a fine powder that is then left behind. They erode the rock over hundreds of years and create huge valleys.The emerald lakes that form at the snouts of glaciers are a beautiful sight, but rapidly melting glaciers can cause these lakes to breach their walls, inundating villages downstream. To reduce the threat, the Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP) monitor and drain some of these lakes.Melting of glaciers is perfectly normal. The only criterion is that falling snow must exceed the melting ice to sustain the glacier. Many people worldwide depend on melting glaciers for survival. All their freshwater needs are met by these melting glaciers year through. This is the water these people use for drinking and irrigation. If this source of fresh water were to stop it will create chaos. People will be forced to shift to places with other sources of freshwater. Certain nations depend a lot on the flow of this water for the production of electricity.
The overflow of water from melted ice into rivers can also cause flooding around the rivers. Villages that are set up around rivers could be destroyed when river banks burst. For example, according to a reporting by Newsweek, an increased rate of melting at the Colonia Glacier caused the flooding of Baker River in Chilean Patagonia in 2009, destroying roads, bridges and farms around the river.
One of the most obvious and well-known outcome of rapid glaciers melting is rising sea levels. The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has projected major changes in sea-level over the next 100 years if carbon dioxide levels continue to rise at the current rate. According to NASA, the average global sea level over the last century has risen by about 4 to 8 inches -- this means about 3.27mm per year. The rising sea level will cause flooding along coastal areas. Some cities and islands that are low lying can even get totally submerged.
Corals require sunlight for photosynthesis to survive and thrive but as the sea level rises from glaciers melting, insufficient sunlight reaches these corals. This will lead to the coral's deterioration (such as coral reef bleaching) and eventual death. Many marine species that depend on the corals for food will also die, or even become extinct. Read about endangered marine animals.
While melting glaciers are caused by global warming, glaciers melting can also impact the temperatures across the globe. Glaciers deflect almost 80% of the heat from the sun back into space. With the melting of ice glaciers, the earth below becomes exposed. There is less reflection of the sun's ray back into space and the glaciers absorb more heat, resulting in further increase in the global temperatures. A vicious cycle is created.
Almost 70% of our earth's surface is covered with water but most of this water is salt water. Freshwater makes up only about 2% of the water on this earth. A large proportion of the world's population depends on melting water from glaciers into lakes and rivers for freshwater supply. With glaciers melting at faster rate than what the rivers can normally hold, the fresh drinking water overflows into the sea and is wasted. The decreased mass of the shrinking glacier also spells water supply shortages in the near future. In fact, people living in the places near Himalayas are already facing water shortages.
Melting glaciers also affect the farmlands that depend highly on water emanating from ice glaciers. There will be a shortage of fresh water to these farms due to receding glaciers. Lack of availability of fresh water for irrigation will in turn reduce the farms' total agricultural output, spelling food shortages in those areas.
There are many animals, birds and fish that highly depend on glaciers for their survival. Animals like polar bears lose their habitats as the glaciers melt away. As some parts of the ice-land become ice-less and streams previously formed from melting ice dries out, the bears also loose their fishing grounds. Some of them starve to death.
Hydroelectricity plants depend solely on the constant flow of water for electricity generation. With melting glaciers, the long term flow of water through hydroelectricity plants located in the glacier regions would be reduced, reducing the efficiency of these plants to generate electricity. Lack of hydro electricity will put pressure on other sources, such as burning of fossil fuel, to produce electricity.
Ice weighs about one ton per cubic meter and glaciers are massive sheets of ice. The substantial weight of glaciers exerts enormous pressure on the earth, suppressing earthquakes. According to NASA, when this pressure is reduced as a result of glaciers melting, many geologic reactions like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and tsunamis (caused by undersea earthquakes) can be triggered. This is because the tectonic plates are now free to move against one another, and the friction that results in the abrasion between plates can lead to earthquakes.
Is a glacier nothing more than a huge mineral flowing downhill?
While glaciers are largely made of ice, they also contain sediments and debris from the rocks they erode. These materials can give glaciers a layered appearance and can contribute to their movement and shaping of the landscape. Glaciers flow due to a combination of gravity and pressure, slowly carving out valleys and shaping the land as they move downhill.
What plants are in glacier national park?
Some common plants found in Glacier National Park include alpine flowers like beargrass, mountain heather, and glacier lilies, as well as coniferous trees such as Englemann spruce, subalpine fir, and lodgepole pine. The park is also home to a variety of grasses, mosses, and ferns that thrive in its diverse ecosystems.
What part of a glacier moves fastest when glacier moves by internal plastic flow?
The center or axis of a glacier generally moves the fastest when the glacier is moving by internal plastic flow. This is due to the greater pressure and thickness of ice at the center, causing it to flow more readily than the slower moving edges and margins of the glacier.
What is the term for all sediments of glacier origin called?
Glacial drift is the term for all sediments of glacier origin.
When new snow is added to a glacier faster than the rate at which ice and snow melt, the glacier gets larger because the accumulation of new snow exceeds the loss from melting. This process contributes to glacier growth and expansion.
Glacier Bay products are made by different manufacturers under the Glacier Bay brand name for Home Depot. This allows the retailer to offer a wide range of products including faucets, sinks, toilets, and other plumbing fixtures under one cohesive brand.
What region has hills worn by erosion and hundreds of lakes carved by glaciers?
The region described is likely the Laurentian Shield, which covers parts of Canada and the northern United States. This area is characterized by rolling hills formed by erosion and numerous lakes created by glaciers during the last Ice Age.
What land-form created by glaciers has a bowl like shape?
A cirque is a bowl-shaped landform created by glaciers. It is typically found at the head of a glacier and is characterized by steep walls and a rounded or amphitheater-like appearance.
How do glaciers and ice caps help lessen the effect of global warming?
The white and shiny ice and snow reflects the sun's heat more than dark surfaces like land and open sea. This is called the albedo effect, and it explains why ice caps help to slow global warming.
Unfortunately, when the ice does melt, then the darker surfaces below absorb more heat, so global warming happens faster. This is called a feedback effect.
What features is formed by glaciers and is shaped like an armchair?
A cirque is a glacial landform that resembles an armchair. It is a bowl-shaped hollow with steep sides formed at the head of a glacier where ice erosion and plucking have occurred.
What causes a glacier to begin to melt?
Glaciers begin to melt due to increasing temperatures, either from natural climate variability or human-induced global warming. When temperatures rise, the ice in glaciers starts to melt, leading to the retreat and thinning of the glacier. Other factors, such as changes in precipitation patterns or albedo feedback, can also contribute to glacier melting.
What is a growing glacier different from a melting glacier?
A melting glacier gets smaller, but a growing glacier gets bigger.
How did glaciers change the land of the northeast region?
Glaciers in the northeast region of the United States carved out valleys, formed lakes, and deposited large amounts of sediment. The movement of glaciers also influenced the shape and elevation of mountains in the region. Additionally, glaciers left behind a variety of landforms, such as drumlins and moraines, which continue to shape the landscape today.
Where till is dropped along the edge of a glacier it forms a?
Where till is dropped along the edge of a glacier, it forms a ridge known as a moraine. This ridge is made up of a mixture of rocks, sediment, and debris that have been carried by the glacier. There are different types of moraines depending on where they are located in relation to the glacier.
The choices for this question are either a: U cross-Valley Profile, Y Cross-Valley Profile, V cross-valley profile, or S Cross Valley Profile.
The answer to this question is a: U cross-valley profile is typical of canyons and valleys eroded by alpine or valley glaciers.
Which are lowlands that were eroded by glaciers and transformed into wide deep basins?
The Great Lakes in North America, including Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario, were formed by glacial erosion during the last Ice Age. These lowlands were carved out by the movement of glaciers, creating the wide and deep basins that now hold the Great Lakes.
What amount of ice is melting from the glaciers everyday?
Glaciers are not simple things to measure, and you really can't make generalizations about all glaciers in the world.
We tend to speak of "mass balance" when it comes to glaciers, because almost all glaciers both add mass through snowfall during much of the year, and they lose mass during the melt season in summer as the ice melts into water and drains off. It isn't always easy to determine whether a glacier is in net gain or net mass loss, but we have many methods of measuring, including many field methods as well as several clever types of remote sensing from the air and from satellites in space.
This is compounded by the complicated dynamics of glacier movement. Some glaciers have been found to be "surging" glaciers, meaning they may advance at incredibly fast rates (kilometers per year) before almost stopping entirely, and this works in cycles. You can see how it would then be difficult to get an average rate of melt. Also, there are both marine-terminating glaciers as well as those only on land, and their behavior depends on different factors.
In some places, mostly Scandinavia, glaciers are adding mass due to weather patterns that have shifted, for whatever reason (temporarily or permanently - probably the former), in the last decade or two. In most other places, they are losing mass. A new study found about 70% of Himalayan glaciers are losing mass, so even in one region some are gaining and some are losing. It depends on a lot of different factors, certainly not just temperature.
I suppose the question still hasn't been answered. There are numbers out there as far as volume loss and sea level rise per year, per decade, etc., but there is still considerable uncertainty...I don't think there's a point in repeating them. There is not uncertainty, however, in that we know that the majority, likely the great majority, are melting more than they're gaining. That is where I will leave it.
Yes, glaciers can be powerful in terms of shaping and reshaping landscapes through processes like erosion and deposition. Glaciers can carve out valleys, move massive boulders, and leave behind distinctive landforms as they advance and retreat.
What is the diffrnece between advancing retreating and stationary glaciers?
Advancing glaciers are glaciers that are moving forward and expanding, while retreating glaciers are glaciers that are melting and shrinking. Stationary glaciers are glaciers that are not currently advancing or retreating, maintaining a relatively stable position.
What is a type of Alpine glacier?
One type of Alpine glacier is a cirque glacier, which forms in a bowl-shaped depression on the side of a mountain. These glaciers are typically small and may be found at the head of a valley or on a mountainside.
Which glacier is formed like an armchair?
The Upsala Glacier in Argentina is sometimes referred to as an "armchair glacier" due to its unique shape, resembling the shape of an armchair.
Why can a glacier continue to erode and transport rock even while retreating?
A glacier can continue eroding and transporting rock while retreating because it still has the ability to pluck and scour the landscape as it moves. Additionally, meltwater from the glacier can also carry and transport sediment, even as the glacier itself is retreating. The erosional processes associated with glaciers can be powerful and persistent, contributing to landscape modification even during retreat.
What is the name of the glacier that has frozen to the bedrock?
The glacier that has frozen to the bedrock is called a "frozen glacier." When a glacier becomes warm enough to melt at its base, the meltwater effectively 'glues' the glacier to the underlying bedrock. This process allows the glacier to adhere strongly to the bedrock and can help stabilize it.
