This article was written by Camryn Kluetmeier. Rock glaciers are part of a continuum, with clean-ice glaciers at one end, debris-covered glaciers in the middle, and rock glaciers at the far end. Like glaciers, rock glaciers flow downslope, but the speed at which they flow is variable on a timescale of days, seasons and decades. …
Rock glaciers are relatively small lenses of ice or frozen sediment that are covered by large amounts of seasonally frozen rock debris. The upper debris layer is known as the ‘active layer’, whilst the core of a rock glacier may comprise pure ice or large volumes of more fine-grained sediment. Rock debris is typically sourced from …
This article was written by Katie Miles from Aberystwyth University. Debris-covered glaciers are valley glaciers that have a layer of rocks and sediment on top of the ice surface. While this can range from a thin smattering of rocks to a thick layer several meters deep (even on the same glacier surface), we typically define …
Rock and sediment debris often cover part or all of a glacier’s surface, where it plays an important role in surface energy balance and the rate of glacier ablation. The relationship between debris thickness and glacier melting Measurements taken at the surface of glaciers show there to be a strong relationship between the thickness of …
A glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) is a release of meltwater from a moraine- or ice-dam glacial lake due to dam failure1,2. GLOFs often result in catastrophic flooding downstream, with major geomorphic and socioeconomic impacts3,4. GLOFs have three main features: They involve sudden (and sometimes cyclic) releases of water. They tend to be rapid events, …
This section of the website focuses on Process Glaciology; that is, the processes by which glaciers grow and form, flow, and move. We focus on the ‘nuts and bolts’ of glacier processes, such as glacier mass balance, glacier flow, and the structures in the ice that these processes causem such as crevasses, as well as …
