Glacier Quick Facts | National Snow and Ice Data Center
The largest glacier, by area, is the Seller Glacier on the Antarctic Peninsula, measuring over 7,000 square kilometers (2,700 square miles). The largest ice crystals that make up a glacier can be as large as apples. However, there are many other ice masses on Earth that are much larger than the largest glacier.
Glaciers - National Snow and Ice Data Center
What is a glacier? A glacier is an accumulation of ice and snow that slowly flows over land. At higher elevations, more snow typically falls than melts, adding to its mass. Eventually, the surplus of built-up ice begins to flow downhill. At lower elevations, there is usually a higher rate of melt or icebergs break off that removes ice mass.
Science of Glaciers | National Snow and Ice Data Center
The Taylor Glacier is an Antarctic glacier about 54 kilometers (34 miles) long, flowing from the plateau of Victoria Land into the western end of Taylor Valley. — Credit: Eli Duke/Flickr. Valley commonly originate from mountain glaciers or icefields, these glaciers spill down valleys, looking much like giant tongues.
Why Glaciers Matter - National Snow and Ice Data Center
Glacier melt delivers nutrients into lakes, rivers, and oceans. Those nutrients can drive blooms of phytoplankton—the base of aquatic and marine food chains. Meanwhile, gradual glacier melt sustains stream habitats for plants and animals. So, glaciers often have an indirect impact on wildlife and fisheries.
GLIMS - National Snow and Ice Data Center
The glacier database includes measurements of glacier geometry, glacier area, snowlines, supraglacial lakes and rock debris, and other glacial attributes, as well as browse images. The collection includes data from approximately 70 percent of the world's 200,000 glaciers, and new glaciers are continually added.
Learn - National Snow and Ice Data Center
Quick facts, basic science, and information about snow, ice, and why the cryosphere matters The cryosphere includes all of the snow and ice-covered regions across the planet.
Ice Sheets Today | National Snow and Ice Data Center
The 2024 melt season for the Greenland Ice Sheet ended with the second-lowest cumulative daily melt extent in this century, ranking twenty-eighth in the satellite record, which began in 1979.
What are glacial lakes? | National Snow and Ice Data Center
2022年2月15日 · In spring 1986, Hubbard Glacier in Alaska surged and blocked the outlet of Russell Fjord, entrapping a large lake. Over the summer, snowmelt continued to fill the lake. In October, the glacier-created dam gave way. The fjord reconnected to the ocean, only after releasing 1.3 cubic miles of water, a gush equivalent to about 35 Niagara Falls.
Randolph Glacier Inventory - A Dataset of Global Glacier Outlines ...
The Randolph Glacier Inventory (RGI) is a global set of glacier outlines; it is intended as a snapshot of the world’s glaciers. This data set provides a single outline for each glacier and is produced in coordination with the Global Land Ice Measurements from Space (GLIMS) initiative.
The story is in the ice: Documenting climate change through the …
2024年8月12日 · Eventually, more than 70 time-lapse cameras were placed in the field in Alaska, Glacier National Park in Montana, Iceland, Greenland, Nepal, Austria, Antarctica, Canada, and South Georgia Island. They were programmed to snap continuous shots of glaciers during every hour of daylight for months or years on end.