Asked by Erik Hi Erik, The time taken for glacier ice to thicken sufficiently to start to move downslope will depend on: The rate at which snow builds up The slope of the ground. Small, simple glaciers are driven by the gravitational driving force ( τb), as given by the equation: τb = ρigh sin αS Where ρigh is […]
Asked by Murtaza Hi Murtaza, The easiest way to think about mass balance is to liken it to a bank account. If you consistently have more going out than coming in, over time your bank account will decrease in size. If you consistently pay in more than you spend, your bank account will grow. It
Asked by Subrat Hi Subrat, This is a great question. Cosmogenic nuclide dating works really well in Antarctica because the lack of organic material often precludes radiocarbon dating (although advances have been made, for example, by dating bird vomit!). Cosmogenic nuclide dating can be applied to glacially transported boulders or glacially eroded bedrock, and gives
Asked by Olivia Hi Olivia, In fact, there are no glaciers at the South Pole. There is however a great ice sheet; ice sheets are masses of ice greater than 50,000 km2. At the South Pole, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet is hugely thick, with the ice flowing slowly towards the coast. The image below
Are there glaciers at the South Pole? Read More »
Asked by Chris Hi Chris, The rhythm of climatic variability recorded in the Antarctic ice cores is very similar to that recorded in the Greenland ice cores. A difficulty in comparison is that the Greenland ice cores tend to be a higher resolution (annual layers) than the Antarctic ice cores, which diffuse more rapidly with
Asked by Lara Hi Lara, There are many studies about Antarctic micro-organisms. Many organisms actually live on glaciers (see this post on glacier ecosystems). This is related to carbon fluxes on glacier ice. Moss grows in some of the more northerly parts. A quick search on Google Scholar reveals many papers about Antarctic micro-organisms. This
Are there any studies about Antarctic micro-organisms? Read More »
Asked by Johny Hi Johny, Glacier volume and glacier mass balance are inextricably linked. Changes in glacier mass balance will cause a change in glacier length and volume. Glacier mass balance is very labour intensive to measure accurately in the field. It takes a lot of work in man-hours to accurately measure accumulation and ablation
What is relation between mass balance and volume balance? what we can infer from mass balance ? what we can infer from volume estimations? Is both are required to know the glacier health? Is there any relation between glacier velocity, mass balance and volume? Kindly explain me in simple terms. Asked by Raaj Hello Raaj,
What is relation between mass balance and volume balance? Read More »
Asked by Chris Hi Chris, We only know the age of ice by looking at its context. Just like you can’t know how old a pebble you find on the beach is without knowing its geological stratigraphic context, we need to look at the whole ice column to work out how old an individual air
If you found an air bubble trapped in ice how would you determine how old it was? Read More »
Asked by Aaron What a great question! One landform in Antarctica that might change over coming years is ice-cored moraines. These moraines have a core of remnant glacier ice; as this ice melts, the moraines downwaste. The meltwater provided by the melting glacier ice mobilises the sediment, resulting in slurrys, mass movements and slides. Because
