Introduction | Case study 1 | Case study 2 | Summary What is glacial surging? Glacial surging refers to the sudden movement of ice over a relatively short period of time resulting in rapid glacier advance that is different from the usual glacier activity 1. Examples of surging can be found across the world, e.g. …
Glaciers are one of the most powerful forces shaping our local landscape. As glaciers flow downhill from mountains to the lowlands, they erode, transport, and deposit materials, forming a great array of glacial landforms. They can erode mountains, and change their morphology. Large glaciers and ice sheets can deposit great swathes of sands and gravels, …
Glaciers gain mass in their upper reaches (accumulation zone) and lose mass at their snout (ablation zone). The majority of glaciers flow (and transfer mass) at a steady rate. However, some glaciers switch between periods of slow and fast flow. Surging glaciers have relatively long periods of ice build-up and slow ice flow before a …
Introduction | Surging glacier features | Other kinds of flow instability | References | Comments | Variable glacier flow Although all glaciers flow, the way in which they flow is highly variable. We already know that the thermal regime can impact on glacier flow, with cold-based glaciers being frozen to their bed and flowing very …
