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Lower Curtis Glacier is a cirque glacier in the North Cascades in the U.S. state of Washington. Cirque glaciers are glaciers that appear in bowl-shaped valley hollows. [4] [12] Snow easily settles in the topographic structure; it is turned to ice as more snow falls and is subsequently compressed. [12]
Apart from the landforms left behind by glaciers, glaciers themselves are striking features of the terrain, particularly in the polar regions of Earth. Notable examples include valley glaciers where glacial flow is restricted by the valley walls, crevasses in the upper section of glacial ice, and icefalls—the ice equivalent of waterfalls.
Glaciers are broken into zones based on surface snowpack and melt conditions. [28] The ablation zone is the region where there is a net loss in glacier mass. The upper part of a glacier, where accumulation exceeds ablation, is called the accumulation zone. The equilibrium line separates the ablation zone and the accumulation zone; it is the ...
The accumulation zone is also defined as the part of a glacier's surface, usually at higher elevations, on which there is net accumulation of snow, which subsequently turns into firn and then glacier ice. Part of the glacier where snow builds up and turns to ice moves outward from there. The glacier head is the highest upslope edge of an alpine ...
An iceberg is a piece of fresh water ice more than 15 meters (16 yards) long [1] that has broken off a glacier or an ice shelf and is floating freely in open water. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] Smaller chunks of floating glacially derived ice are called "growlers" or "bergy bits".
Moulins are parts of the internal structure of glaciers, that carry meltwater from the surface down to wherever it may go. [7] Water from a moulin often exits the glacier at base level, sometimes into the sea, and occasionally the lower end of a moulin may be exposed in the face of a glacier or at the edge of a stagnant block of ice.
The rapid retreat of the Cordilleran ice sheet is a focus of study by glaciologists seeking to understand the difference in patterns of melting in marine-terminating glaciers, glaciers whose margin extends into open water without seafloor contact, and land-terminating glaciers, with a land or seafloor margin, as scientists believe the western ...
The 730 m (2,400 ft) icefall (center) in the Roosevelt Glacier, Mount Baker, Washington, U.S. An icefall is a portion of certain glaciers characterized by relatively rapid flow and chaotic crevassed surface, caused in part by gravity.