Glacier

growth
As the glacier flows
downhill, it descends to
warmer zones where the
snow melts from year to
year. The boundary where
loss from melting and
evaporation equals
accumulation from
A slice through a valley glacier.
snowfall is called the
annual snowline or firn limit-"firn" being the term for partially compacted
snow carried over from previous seasons.
The firn limit fluctuates from year to year in response to changes in
precipitation and temperature. The firn limit can be as much as 1,000 ft
lower in elevation on the shaded north sides of mountain peaks tan on their
sunny south sides. For this reason, many present-day glaciers are found on
the north-facing mountain slopes.
The section of the glacier through which the maximum amount of ice
flows coincides with the firn limit, because as the glacier flows toward the
firn limit, it is continually augmented by new net snowfall; and downvalley
from the firn limit, more ice is lost by melting and evaporation-together
called ablation-each year than is added by snowfall. As the glacier flows
downvalley from the firn limit, more and more of the ice ablates, and the
glacier grows thinner or narrower, or both. Ultimately a point is reached
where the ice front can advance no farther because the ice melts there as
rapidly as it is provided by inflow from up glacier. If the yearly rates of
accumulation and ablation were constant, this point would be fixed.
However, they vary, and for that reason alone the terminus of the glacier is
not likely to be fixed in position. As the climate turns warmer or drier, a
glacier will gradually waste away, rather than melting catastrophically.