is a persistent body of dense
ice that is constantly moving under its own weight; it forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its
ablation (melting and sublimation ) over many years, often centuries. Glaciers slowly deform and flow due to stresses induced by their weight, creating
crevasses , seracs , and other distinguishing features. They also abrade rock and debris from their substrate to create landforms such as cirques and
moraines . Glaciers form only on land and are distinct from the much thinner
sea ice and lake ice that form on the surface of bodies of water.
On Earth, 99% of glacial ice is contained within vast ice sheets in the polar regions , but glaciers may be found in
mountain ranges on every continent including Oceania's high-latitude
oceanic islands such as New Zealand and Papua New Guinea. Between 35°N and 35°S, glaciers occur only in the
Himalayas, Andes, Rocky Mountains , a few high mountains in East Africa,
Mexico , New Guinea and on Zard Kuh in Iran. [1] Glaciers cover about 10 percent of Earth's land surface. Continental glaciers cover nearly 13,000,000 km 2 (5 ×10 6 sq mi) or about 98 percent of Antarctica's 13,200,000 km 2 (5.1 ×10 6 sq mi), with an average thickness of 2,100 m (7,000 ft).
Greenland and Patagonia also have huge expanses of continental glaciers. [2]
Glacial ice is the largest reservoir of
fresh water on Earth. [3] Many glaciers from temperate, alpine and seasonal polar climates store water as ice during the colder seasons and release it later in the form of meltwater as warmer summer temperatures cause the glacier to melt, creating a water source that is especially important for plants, animals and human uses when other sources may be scant. Within high-altitude and Antarctic environments, the seasonal temperature difference is often not sufficient to release meltwater.
Because glacial mass is affected by long-term climatic changes, e.g.,
precipitation, mean temperature, and
cloud cover , glacial mass changes are considered among the most sensitive indicators of climate change and are a major source of variations in sea level .
A large piece of compressed ice, or a glacier, appears blue , as large quantities of water appear blue . This is because water molecules absorb other colors more efficiently than blue. The other reason for the blue color of glaciers is the lack of air bubbles. Air bubbles, which give a white color to ice, are squeezed out by pressure increasing the density of the created ice
