Extreme Environments - Geography

Valley Glacier

A long, narrow glacier that forms when snow and ice build up in a mountain valley

Cirque

A bowl shaped basin carved by a glacier (erosional)

Ice Cap

a mass of ice that covers less than 50,000 km² of land area

Snow Patch

A geomorphological pattern of snow and firn accumulation that lies on the surface for a longer time

Piedmont Glacier

If a valley glacier spills out of the mountains, onto the flat foreland, the ice often spreads to form a lobe.

What is a Glacier?

Huge persistent bodies of dense ice that are constantly moving under their own weight, carving and shaping the land beneath it.

Ice Shields

Vast masses of ice sheets covering stretches of land

Icesheets

Mass of glacial ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50,000 km2

Alpine Glaciers

A glacier that forms in a mountainous area.

Tidewater

Water overflowing land at high tide

Freshwater Glaciers

Tidewater and freshwater glaciers are formed on land but terminate in bodies of water.

Rock Glaciers

Mixtures of rock fragments and ice (behave like glacial ice, flowing downhill slowly)

Characteristics of a glacial environment

subglacial, ice-marginal, proglacial, and periglacial

Liquid water and wind

Transport sediment in glacial environments

Wind Transport

Common when there is little vegetation

Liquid water transport

Occurs when the ice melts

Cryosphere

The frozen water part of the Earth system (includes areas of sea ice, frozen ground, snow, and glaciers)

Affects of a change in Cryosphere

Change in Sea levels from melting ice and snow

Sea ice

Expands and shrinks with the seasons in the Arctic Ocean and in the Southern Ocean surrounding Antarctica (this does not change sea level)

Water Ice (Ice Sheets)

When it melts, water flows into the ocean which could lead to rising sea levels (could raise global sea level by over 60 metres)

Polar desert

Cold deserts whose precipitation occasionally occurs in form of snow due to the limited moisture in the air

Arctic Tundra

Treeless regions found in the Arctic and on the tops of mountains, where the climate is cold and windy, and rainfall is scant.